BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) – A popular toothpaste brand is the subject of a lawsuit alleging one of its all natural products contained artificial ingredients.
Falosha Martin, Sonia Severino and Luchun Huo filed the lawsuit against Colgate-Palmolive Company over its Tom’s of Maine all natural toothpaste.
The lawsuit claims Tom’s of Maine advertises its products as “natural,” but it contains “highly chemically processed ingredients such as glycerin and sodium lauryl sulfate.”
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
According to the suit, glycerin is used in many of Tom’s of Maine products including the whitening, multi-benefit, fresh breath, anticavity, sensitive, children’s, flouride-free and SLS Free product lines.
Glycerin is often used in the manufacturing of dishwashing liquid and shampoos, the lawsuit said.
“Young children learning to brush their teeth, however, tend to swallow toothpaste prior to learning to spit,” the lawsuit said. “Therefore, parents who have been led to believe that Tom’s of Maine toothpaste products are safe to swallow because of the ‘natural claims unfortunately do not realize that swalloing the toothpaste is essentially the equivalent of ingesting dishwashing detergent or shampoo.”
The lawsuit seeks class status for those that purchased the Tom’s of Maine brand, and asks for more than $5 million in damages plus court costs.
The plaintiffs are represented by C.K. Lee of the Lee Litigation Group, PLLC of New York City.
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York case number 1:15-cv-01214
