HC nod for Colgate Sensitive toothpaste to be back in stores

In a reprieve for Colgate Palmolive (India) Limited, the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday allowed the multinational consumer products major to resume sale of its

In a reprieve for Colgate Palmolive (India) Limited, the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday allowed the multinational consumer products major to resume sale of its Colgate Sensitive toothpaste.

HT Image

The product was taken off the shelf in September 5, 2018, after the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) instructed the company to stop selling the product on the grounds of misbranding, claiming that the toothpaste was being sold as a “cosmetic product”. The FDA also restrained the company from disposing of existing stock and seized five batches of Colgate Sensitive on March 29, 2019. The company approached the HC after a metropolitan magistrate on July 8, rejected its plea, seeking release of the seized product.

The company’s counsel, senior advocate Navroz Seervai, contended that the FDA wants to treat the product as a drug. “This is nothing but sheer harassment,” said Seervai. “How can toothpaste be termed a drug merely for containing potassium nitrate. It’s a salt, which has been used in toothpastes for years,” he said. The FDA claimed that the toothpaste contained 5% potassium nitrate, an anti-sensitising agent, which bears properties of decreasing excitability of the intra-dental nerve action – a fact which proved that it is not a cosmetic product.

According to FDA, this constituted contravention of provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and therefore the company was liable for action under the Act. A division bench of justice Ranjit More and justice NJ Jamadar, however, granted relief to the company in view of the order passed earlier by a bench, also headed by justice More in the case of Sensodyne toothpaste manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. The HC had granted relief to the pharma major, noting that it was nobody’s case that Sensodyne was harmful or dangerous to the consumer, although there was a technical issue of categorising the product.

Taking a similar view in the Colgate Sensitive case, the bench passed an interim order, directing the FDA to retain samples for testing and release the balance seized stock to the company.