Charles on… anything that comes along

Seen on the side of my toothpaste packet:

Colgate Oxygen toothpaste releases fine bubbles of pure oxygen. Plaque and impurities are gently lifted away. For a clean fresh mouth, like a breath of fresh air.

Excuse me, but what use is oxygen when you’re brushing your teeth? Your mouth gets plenty of it every time you breathe through it. And how do these bubbles of oxygen get generated? The contents say there’s sodium monofluorophosphate, glycerin, hydrated silica, sodium bicarbonate, propylene glycol, aqua (= water), sodium lauryl silicate, aroma, cellulose gum, sodium sacharin, sodium hydroxide, carrageenan [what is that??], calcium peroxide, polyethylene, limonene, CI 42090, CI 74160.

Presumably it’s the calcium peroxide that releases the “fine bubbles of pure oxygen” (as opposed to what? Impure oxygen? Sinful oxygen?). But honestly, this is the sort of daft pseudochemistry-as-marketing that gets up my nose.

Then you get people who write to the local paper saying that we should back the EU’s proposal to test every chemical used in everything; and at the same time, people saying that you should let all sorts of vitamins and diet supplements be sold all over the place. Come on, folks, what is it? Are “artificial chemicals” (durr) evil in themselves, or only OK once you’ve said they’ll make you well?

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