Recently, there has been spreading information that is troubling the public, namely the widespread issue of using sea urchins for the production of toothbrushes. On social media recently someone uploaded a photo of a toothbrush packaging. The presence of the words "bristle" on the toothbrush packaging made social media users feel restless. Because, the word "bristle" is defined as sea urchin.
The Indonesian people, who are predominantly Muslims, are certainly worried about this issue, because pork is considered unclean and unclean. Using boar bristles to brush teeth is of course considered to have violated religious rules.
So what is the attitude of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)? Is it true that the attitude of the teeth in the packaging that reads "bristle" is haram?
Reporting from the halalmui.org site, it is stated that the lexical meaning of bristle is a short, stiff hair, fiber, etc (Webster's Dictionary). So all the hair, the stiff fiber, then the term will be referred to as bristle. Hair, stiff beard, can be categorized as bristle. Another example is that stiff fibers or pine leaves can also be referred to as bristle.
MUI considers that not everything labeled bristle must come from sea urchins, because the scope of the meaning of the word is indeed so broad.
The MUI official website also explains that in the industrial world, bristle is indeed used as a material for making brushes or brushes, including toothbrushes. Bristle can be sourced from animal hair or plant fibers or synthetic fibers such as nylon and silicone. The animal hair used can be sourced from pigs, goats, horses, or camels. The plant fiber that has also been used as a brush or brush material is palm fiber. Nylon is also a synthetic fiber that is commonly used for brushes, brushes or toothbrushes.
The MUI explained that, if the ingredients used were confirmed from pigs, it would absolutely be haram. Because any material that comes from pork is both haram and unclean, either in dry or wet form.
MUI continues to explain that the problem is that not all brush or brush or toothbrush users are able to recognize whether the brush they are using is a brush or a brush made of pig bristles. One of the information that can be seen as a marker that a brush or brush comes from sea urchins is that it is written as the name of the product, for example “Boar Bristle Brush”.
An example presented by MUI is a product sold on the Amazon online store. If a product offered is made from sea urchins, the manufacturer will usually list “Fuchs Toothbrushes Pure Natural (Boar) Bristle Record V Adult Soft (Pack of 5)-Assorted colors by Fuchs Toothbrushes”
Boar is the English term for wild boar or wild boar. This means that the product is a brush that uses wild boar bristles.
MUI closes its explanation by stating that brushes, brushes, or toothbrushes are not always made of pork even though there is an inscription on bristle, because the term bristle is still general in nature. There are several manufacturers who have used goat hair or camel or horse hair as brush material or made of nylon. The last group of materials is clearly acceptable.
An information compiled from the halalcorner.id page states that if you look back at the history and development of toothbrushes, the bristles found on toothbrushes originally came from wild boar bristles (Siberian). However, along with the development of technology, in 1938 toothbrushes were produced with nylon bristles which still dominate today. However, it is undeniable that there are still around 10% worldwide of toothbrush products whose bristles come from pig bristles.
Then the page gives advice if you want to make sure whether the toothbrush is made of pig bristles or something else, you should look for information on the official website of the toothbrush manufacturer, or even ask directly to the customer service center.