A study by the Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research attached to Delhi University has found that leading toothpaste and toothpowder brands use nicotine; a few companies deny such usage and some are tight-lipped
Moneylife Digital Team
If you have given up cigarettes and chewing tobacco and are feeling glad that you will not go crazy and chew your bathroom for want of your daily nicotine fix, you might have to give your ‘herbal’ green toothpaste (or toothpowder) a cold, hard look. A recent study has proven that the ‘freshness’ induced after brushing with such herbal brands could be because of the nicotine present in the mixture.
Findings by the Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences—a research affiliate of University of Delhi, state that leading toothpaste and tooth powders of brands such as Colgate Herbal and Neem Tulsi, Dabur Red, VICCO, Himalaya and Alka Dantamanjan were found to have nicotine in them. These results are going viral all over the blogosphere and of course, social networking site Twitter.
One such article on Nationalist News Network says, “According to the study (mentioned above), popular brands like Colgate Herbal and Neem Tulsi were found to contain 10mg-18mg of nicotine in each standard tube. The amount of nicotine in (a tube of) toothpaste is equivalent to the amount of nicotine present in about five to nine cigarettes.
“Tooth powders like Dabur Red, one of the oldest brands in India, VICCO, Alka Dantamanjan and Payokil were also found to contain nicotine. Payokil contained the highest amount (16mg) of nicotine, which is equal to the amount of nicotine present in about eight cigarettes,” the article adds.
In the study, 24 brands of toothpaste and toothpowder were tested, of which seven were found to be containing significant amount of nicotine.
Medical practitioners say, surprisingly, brands which claim to be ‘herbal’, often used by heath-conscious people, were found to contain nicotine. This is dangerous as people would be at the receiving end of being exposed to harmful diseases.
Experts say that this is not only harmful, but also a breach of law as according to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, nicotine cannot be added to non-tobacco products such as toothpaste and toothpowders. Nicotine in tobacco leads to various harmful diseases such as cancer (tobacco is a carcinogenic). In fact, even chewing nicotine gum can cause dentures to loosen, create damage to dental enamel and produce stains on teeth. As a chemical, nicotine is highly addictive (even more than heroin) and if children use a such a toothpaste or toothpowder liberally dosed with nicotine, they can develop addiction at a very early age.
“The ill-effects of nicotine, whether used in a cigarette or toothpaste or anything else, are still the same and equally harmful,” an oncologist from a Mumbai-based hospital told Moneylife, preferring anonymity.
Other major brands that were found to be using nicotine include RA Thermoseal Sensoform, Stoline, Musaka Gul, and Unadent.
But a number of these companies have denied using nicotine in their brands. Refuting the claim, a Himalaya spokesperson told Moneylife, “We do not add nicotine to our toothpaste. Hence, there is no possibility of finding it in our formulation. Tests conducted on the same batch of toothpaste have confirmed that our product is absolutely nicotine-free. The product was analysed for the presence of nicotine using highly sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) technique. The results showed that nicotine was not detected (method detection limit was for 1 parts per million or ppm).”
A Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited spokesperson also denied the usage of nicotine. He told Moneylife, “We do not use nicotine or any tobacco substance as an ingredient in any of our products. We have contacted Professor SS Agarwal of the Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research to learn the details of his research.”
An e-mail query sent by Moneylife to Dabur and VICCO remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.