Consumers were advised yesterday to discard alltoothpaste made in China after federal health officials said they foundChinese-made toothpaste containing a poison used in some antifreeze inthree locations: Miami, the Port of Los Angeles and Puerto Rico.

Although there are no reports of anyone being harmed by the toothpaste, the Food and Drug Administrationwarned that the Chinese products had a “low but meaningful risk oftoxicity and injury” to children and people with kidney or liverdisease.

The United States is the seventh country to find tainted Chinese toothpaste within its borders in recent weeks.

Agencyofficials said they found toothpaste containing a small amount ofdiethylene glycol, a sweet, syrupy poison, at a Dollar Plus retailstore in Miami, sold under the brand name ShiR Fresh Mint FluoridePaste. The F.D.A. also identified nine other brands of Chinesetoothpaste that contain diethylene glycol, some with concentrations of3 percent to 4 percent.

Previously, only a few brands had beenidentified by health officials around the world as containingdiethylene glycol and all of them listed the chemical on the label.

Butdiethylene glycol was not listed on the label of the toothpaste foundin the Miami store. Its presence was detected only because the F.D.A.began testing imported Chinese toothpaste last month. That precautionwas prompted by the discovery in Latin America of tens of thousands oftubes of tainted toothpaste made in China.

Over the years,counterfeiters have found it profitable to substitute diethylene glycolfor its chemical cousin, glycerin, which is usually more expensive.Glycerin is a safe additive commonly found in food, drugs and householdproducts. In toothpaste, glycerin is used as a thickening agent.

Chineseregulators said Thursday that their investigation of toothpastemanufacturers there had found they had done nothing wrong. Chineseofficials also said that while small amounts of diethylene glycol couldbe safely used in toothpaste, new controls would be imposed on its usein toothpaste.

The F.D.A. said diethylene glycol in any amount was not suitable for use in toothpaste.

Theagency said two Chinese companies, Goldcredit International Trading andthe Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Company, made the tainted brandsfound in the United States.

In a statement yesterday, federalhealth officials called diethylene-glycol poisoning “an importantpublic safety issue.” The Panamanian government last year inadvertentlymixed the poison made in China into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine,killing at least 100 people, prosecutors there said.

In thatcase, Chinese regulators acknowledged on Thursday that two companies inChina had “engaged in some misconduct” in the way they labeled and soldthe diethylene glycol, but they said a Panamanian importer bore most ofthe blame.

Last month, after publicity over the poisoning deathsfrom the cold medicine, a consumer in Panama noticed that toothpaste ina store listed diethylene glycol as an ingredient and notified theauthorities. Eventually it was traced to China, and since thencountries around the world have been on the lookout for the product.

Inaddition to the United States and Panama, tainted toothpaste has beenfound in Australia, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Honduras andNicaragua.

Chinese exports of toothpaste to the United Statesaccount for $3.3 million out of a $2 billion-dollar market in America,F.D.A. officials said. “The scope of this is fairly small when you lookat all the toothpaste that is consumed in the U.S.,” Doug Arbesfeld, anagency spokesman, said.

The agency said Chinese-made brands withdiethylene glycol were typically sold at low-cost, “bargain” retailoutlets. A man answering the phone at the Dollar Plus store in Miami,identified by federal officials as selling the Chinese toothpaste, saidhe did not want to be interviewed because his English was poor. Theman, who did not give his name, said federal inspectors came to hisstore yesterday.

Mr. Arbesfeld said that six tubes wereconfiscated there and that several more were found at the store’sdistributor. Those tubes were destroyed. F.D.A. officials also saidthey had confiscated several brands of toothpaste at the Port of LosAngeles and at a retail store in Puerto Rico.

The agency saidtoothpaste containing diethylene glycol was sold under the namesCooldent Fluoride, Cooldent Spearmint, Cooldent ICE, Dr. Cool,Superdent, Clean Rite, Oralmax Extreme, Oral Bright, Bright Max, andShiR Fresh Mint.