Product Contamination

Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children's clothing. The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger -- including clothing -- be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable.

Popular health and beauty products sold on Internet auction sites could be stolen, tainted and possibly dangerous, according to a warning issued today by the National Retail Federation. Advil, Visine, baby formula, diabetic testing strips and other goods are being stolen from stores, warehouses and cargo trailers and peddled on EBay and other online auction sites, said Joseph LaRocca, the group's vice president of loss prevention.

The investigation into a blood thinner suspected in some 19 U.S. deaths is now focusing on the possibility that raw biological ingredients were contaminated even before they reached a factory in China, manufacturer Baxter Healthcare Corp. said Friday. That raises the prospect that the problem could have occurred somewhere along a supply chain that includes layers of middlemen and originates in pig farms. Heparin, a generic medication, is derived from a substance in the lining of pig intestines.

The scope of concerns about the possible ill effects of a contaminated blood thinner from China grew significantly Tuesday as federal regulators urged makers of many kinds of medical devices that contain the drug to test their supplies. The products to be tested cover a spectrum of equipment and uses.

California's attorney general has filed suit against four manufacturers, including Whole Foods Market Inc., accusing them of failing to label soap products that contain a potentially cancer-causing chemical. The suit, filed by Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown in Alameda County Superior Court late last month, didn't name the specific body washes, gels and liquid dish soaps that allegedly contain 1,4-dioxane.

Tests on bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group. The findings challenge the idea that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers said. All the brands in the study met federal health standards, but two violated a California standard, said the Washington-based Environmental Working Group.

Some shampoos and other bath products still contain traces of a cancer-causing petrochemical that federal health officials have expressed concerns about for more than 20 years, according to test results announced Thursday by environmental activists.

U.S. health officials are beginning to check all shipments of toothpaste coming from China after reports of tainted Chinese products in other countries, a government spokesman said Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration has no evidence that contaminated toothpaste has made its way into the United States but is taking the step as a precaution, agency spokesman Doug Arbesfeld said.

A contact-lens solution made by Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. has been linked to a serious eye infection that can lead to blindness, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website Friday. Health investigators with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have linked bacterial infections to Advanced Medical Optics' Complete MoisturePlus solution, the website said. Company and CDC officials could not be reached for comment.

By the standards of Chinese corruption cases, the $832,000 that the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration was charged with skimming over a seven-year period was not huge. But the death sentence given in the bribery case Tuesday reflected the growing pressure under which Beijing finds itself in the wake of medical and food scandals that have rattled the nation and spread anxiety abroad.