[THE INVESTOR] South Korean beauty giant AmorePacific is recalling 11 toothpaste products containing toxic chemicals that have been blamed for more than 100 deaths here after being used in Oxy’s humidifier sterilizers.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 27 said it has found the chemicals -- chloro-methylisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone -- in a preservative, called sodium lauryl sulfate, used in the AmorePacific products.

Except one, all the products are sold in the market under popular brand name such as Median and Songyeom. The company has withdrawn the products from retailers, offering refunds to customers. 



The agency, however, said the tiny amount of containment doesn’t need to cause health concerns among consumers, adding that the recall order was made because sodium lawryl sulfate is a prohibited preservative in Korea. 

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Actually, preservatives containing CMIT and MIT are allowed to be used in toothpastes in the US and Europe but local regulators ban the use. Only three preservatives -- sodium benzoate, paraoxivengosanmetil and paraoxybenzopropyl -- are allowed to be used here.

The agency said the AmorePacific toothpastes contained about 0.0022 to 0.0044 parts per million of the material, which compares to the allowable level of containment at 15 parts per million abroad.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)