Cindy Miller brushes her teeth four times a day. When she gets sick, Miller brushes even more often because of the way food tastes.
"That's just a big issue with me," said Miller, 45, of Bethany Drive in Hempfield.
It's also a big reason why Miller is scheduled for outpatient medical treatment Thursday to address problems that developed when she recently brushed repeatedly with toothpaste that reportedly is contaminated with an additive commonly used in anti-freeze.
"I've had severe abdominal pain ever since," Miller said.
On June 8, Miller bought four tubes of what she thought was Colgate-brand toothpaste from the "It's A Buck" discount store in Gabriel's Plaza off Route 30.
On June 10, Miller, her husband Shawn, 50, and their children, Allison, 21, and Shawn Jr., 12, all brushed their teeth with the newly purchased paste.
By 3 p.m. the following day, most of the Miller family was stricken with intense stomach pains.
"I didn't know what we had, but we ruled out food because we all ate something different the day before," Miller said.
Cindy and Shawn Jr. continued to brush with the toothpaste for the next three days and the pain persisted. Allison Miller's pain subsided Tuesday because she had only brushed with the toothpaste once. Shawn Miller experienced little discomfort but noticed the toothpaste had an unpleasant taste.
On June 14, Colgate-Palmolive issued a company warning regarding counterfeit toothpaste falsely packaged as Colgate being sold in several "dollar-type discount stores" in Pennsylvania and New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
Company officials said they had received indications at that time that the Chinese-made counterfeit product did not contain fluoride and did contain diethylene glycol.
That chemical, otherwise known as DEG or 'diglycol', is a clear and odorless liquid derived from ethylene oxide, most commonly used in engine coolant, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Telltale signs of the contaminated product made in China are a label that reads "'Made in South Africa," or a list of ingredients that contains several misspelled words. Other tipoffs include the year "2008" on the container's perforated edge, and phrases such as "100 milliliters."
After viewing that information on a television news report, Cindy Miller determined that the toothpaste tubes she purchased days earlier contained similar information.
"Our tubes say 'Made in Zimbabwe' and they each have '100 ml' on them," Miller said.
Until her outpatient appointment, Miller is limited to ingesting clear liquids as a precaution.
On June 1, the FDA warned consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in China because of potential DEG contamination.
FDA officials are investigating reports in other countries of patient deaths and injuries from ingesting DEG-contaminated products.
DEG is not used in Colgate toothpaste anywhere in the world, Colgate-Palmolive spokeswoman Allison Klimerman said yesterday. The company is still working to remove as many tubes of the contaminated toothpaste from general circulation as possible.
Miller said she plans to send the tainted tubes she bought to Colgate-Palmolive in a prepaid postal package the company will send to her soon, she said.
At "It's A Buck," remaining containers of the toothpaste have been removed from shelves, manager Robert Workmaster said.
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