AmorePacific to Recall Toothpaste Containing Banned Chemicals

On Tuesday, South Korea's leading cosmetics company, AmorePacific, announced that it would recall 11 of its toothpaste products that have been verified to have the same toxic chemicals used in Oxy's humidifier sterilizers that led to the deaths of more than 100 Korean earlier this year, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.

The problematic product line includes famous brands of toothpaste such as Median and Songyeom.

In a statement issued under the name of the company president, Shim Sang Bae on Tuesday evening, the company stated, "We sincerely apologize for causing safety problems with our products. The company recently found out that the ingredient supplied from the raw materials company contained sodium dodecyl sulfate, which has a micro amount of CMIT and MIT chemicals."

On Monday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety declared that a small amount of chloromethyl isothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT) were discovered in AmorePacific's products. The said chemicals are banned from use in Korean toothpaste.

The amount of toxic chemicals is from 0.0022 to 0.0044 parts per million and is considered by the ministry as not harmful to humans.

An official from the ministry said, "Although the two chemicals are completely prohibited from domestic products, they can be used freely in American toothpaste. European nations set the limit to 15 parts per million, and even this is a standard that is not harmful to the human body even if all the residue is absorbed by the body."

AmorePacific also announced that it would withdraw all 11 products starting today no matter when, when, and how customers purchased them. The company also mentioned that customers with no receipt of purchase will be eligible for the exchange and refund process.

Earlier this year, the Oxy Reckitt Benckiser humidifier sterilizers were verified to have caused the deaths of more than 100 early this year. Also, Taekwang, a local wet tissue maker, recalled its products early in September due to having the same toxic chemicals.