It’s Friday the 13th, 2013, just another normal day. Or is it?
They say that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day, well, there might be something truthful about that. But not as one would expect.
This afternoon I was walking in one of METRO’s grocery stores in Mactan Cebu, Philippines, just to buy some drinks, some coffee and snacks. I didn’t plan to buy anything else but as I pasted by the aisle with personal hygiene products, something inside me told me to walk through the aisle and grab a new tube of toothpaste. Not that I needed one because I still had some Colgate leftover at home. The odd thing was, I was looking at all the toothpastes when suddenly I found myself in a rather silly situation.
I’m writing for Truth News International and a few other websites, so I know that my Colgate toothpaste is not the most healthy choice. It’s probably the reason why I decided to make a turn into that aisle. After all, it’s a known fact that fluoride isn’t healthy, yet I never changed my brand of toothpaste so in a way I haven’t been that honest about this to myself.
I’m taking a look at the brands on the shelve and I start reading the ingredients in the toothpastes, to find out how many actually have fluoride in them. As you can imagine, most of them do. I’m comparing them one by one. One package, reads “extra fluoride power,” the next one, Parodontax, reads “daily fluoride free toothpaste.” I show both toothpastes to the person who’s with me in the store and I ask her if she notices the same like I do. I mean, one says extra fluoride power while the other one states the exact opposite. So I ask her: “if fluoride is so good and healthy, why is this being advertised as one without fluoride?”
We move on and head toward the counter, pay the bill and go home.
Once arrived at home, we notice that there’s something wrong with the package of this toothpaste that we just bought. It really was like a scene straight out of the movie 1984, you know, the Orwell kind of thing.
On the package there were stickers, strips, as I found out, they were hiding something on the package. I noticed those strips earlier when I was still in the store but I thought those were part of some kind of electronic article surveillance system, like acousto-magnetic tags. Well, it turns out that they were not.
The strips were hiding a text on the package of the toothpaste:
Front side of package
Front side of package
Front side of package
“Helps stop bleeding gums”
Side of package
Side of package
Side of package
“Helps stop bleeding gums”
Other side of the package
Other side of the package
Other side of the package
“Parodontax is specially formulated for people who spit blood when they brush. Spitting blood when you brush your teeth can be one of the first signs of gum problems, a major cause of tooth loss. That is why Parodontax has a unique formulation for people who spit blood when they brush. Parodontax helps stop bleeding gums. This toothpaste does not contain fluoride. Please consult your dentist in the event of continuous use.”
And another side of the package
“Helps stop bleeding gums”
The receipt
Apparently someone doesn’t want that info to be visible when the product is still on the shelve in the store, next to other toothpastes that say “extra fluoride power.” Either METRO or GlaxoSmithKline covers the “helps stop bleeding gum” and “this toothpaste does not contain fluoride” notifications, for a yet unknown reason.
My guess is that they cover this because the other brands might experience a drop in their sales. Or they cover it because it’s too obvious that FLUORIDE IS NOT GOOD for your teeth.
Parodontax is the only available brand here without fluoride.
This is how I finally changed my toothpaste, to a non fluoride one. On Friday the 13th.
Koen Jacobs
for Truth News International
Worldwide Truth Day 12/21 