Medical Description

Diethylene glycol is a thickening agent commonly used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin and can be found in antifreeze and brake fluid. The agent proves fatal for humans if consumed in high levels.

Symptoms

• abdominal pain
• confusion
• dizziness
• drowsiness
• nausea
• unconsciousness
• vomiting

General Information

In May 2007, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposed a blockade of all imported goods from China after toothpaste from the country was tainted with diethylene glycol. The agent is sometimes used to keep toothpaste moist.

In 2006, more than 100 people in Panama died after consuming cough medicine imported from China. The medicine was laced with diethylene glycol.

In Panama, hundreds of people died in 2006 after consuming cough medicine shipped from China that was laced with diethylene glycol and mislabeled as a harmless syrup.

More than 100 people in the United States died in 1937 when they took antibiotics prepared with diethylene glycol. This incident led to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, enacted to prevent such tragedies by monitoring drugs.

Source: “FDA to check toothpaste imports from China,” MSNBC.com, May 24, 2007; “Diethylene glycol (Not glycerine),” ScienceBlogs.com, May 7, 2007; Carol Ballentine, “The 1937 Elixir Sulfanilamide Incident,” Food and Drug Administration History, June 1981, “Diethylene glycol,” PesticideInfo.org, May 2007.

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