By ELIZABETH MIAE
INVESTIGATIONS will be carried out on toothpastes that are being imported from China and sold in shops around the country.
The Health Department’s director of medical supply Igo Baru said that the investigations would start as soon as pharmaceutical inspectors who are currently in the Western province return to Port Moresby.
He said a schedule had already been set up and NCD will be the first to go followed by Lae, Mt Hagen and Rabaul of it’s rounds of investigations of the banned products.
This comes after a warning from the US Food and Drug Administration on the chemical diethylene glycol (DEG) contained in toothpastes that are made in China which can be harmful to a person’s health when used.
The names of the different brands of toothpastes have been forwarded to the health secretary’s office for approval to be published.
In the meantime, the inspectors currently in Western province are on their last leg of inspections of medical drugs sold in shops that are not licensed to sell.
So far they have visited shops in Vanimo, Wewak, Madang, Lae, Popondetta, Rabaul and NCD after concerns were raised that medical drugs were sold in ordinary shops.
During their visits, inspectors have been warning shop owners to remove medical drugs from their shelves.
Reports of the inspections will be filed and presented to the Department and regular follow-ups will be done on a quarterly basis.
Mr Baru said that if shop owners were still not following regulations, then court action would taken against them.

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