CSPI says it might reconsider its rating if specifications for food-grade titanium dioxide in the U.S. are updated to ensure nanoparticles are minimized, and new studies are conducted to assess its capacity to cause cancer or other health problems.
On November 23, 2022, the General Court of the European Union reversed the conclusion that titanium dioxide was carcinogenic and released a statement (1,2):
“First, the Commission made a manifest error in its assessment of the reliability and acceptability of the study on which the classification was based and, second, it infringed the criterion according to which that classification can relate only to a substance that has the intrinsic property to cause cancer.”
As part of our mission at CRIS we base our safety assessments on the currently available scientific evidence and consider many variables (e.g., study quality, journal of publication, etc.), even if it goes against previous conclusions. Evidence-informed decisions making is critical to ensure that the laws and regulations put into place are for the benefit of the population.
The EU General Court maintains that the scientific evidence presented wasn’t the complete picture for the ingredient, “in the present case, the requirement to base the classification of a carcinogenic substance on reliable and acceptable studies was not satisfied.”
In a small study published in the European Journal of Nutrition in 2020, researchers examined the effects of several food additives, including titanium dioxide, along with artificial sweeteners and cleaning products by testing the fecal samples of 13 people. Titanium dioxide was among the samples that “induced significant shifts in microbiome community structure.” The growth of the bacterium species belonging to C. leptum, which has been shown to decrease in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, “significantly decreased in the presence of … titanium dioxide” among other additives and sweeteners tested.
Workers are equipped with protective gear and trained to handle potentially hazardous chemicals safely Workers are equipped with protective gear and trained to handle potentially hazardous chemicals safelyr 5566 titanium dioxide factories. Stringent regulations, such as OSHA standards in the US and EU REACH guidelines, ensure that these factories operate responsibly and ethically.