Deemed dangerous as a food additive, titanium dioxide could remain authorized in medicines

Just days apart, manufacturers have won two major victories in the sensitive issue of regulating titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ), a pigment used in a myriad of applications and at the center of health concerns for more than a decade. In early August, the European Court of Justice invalidated the carcinogenicity classification of this substance by the European Union (EU) health authorities.

Less than a week later, the European Commission announced that it was in favor of maintaining the authorization for the use of E171—the nanoparticle form of _TiO2 —in medicines. These two decisions welcomed the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, but dismayed health and environmental groups.

However, the ban on E171 as a food additive, effective since 2022, has not been called into question. This ban followed an expert opinion issued in May 2021 by the European Food Safety Authority, which found that the genotoxicity (toxicity to DNA) of TiO ₂ nanoparticles could not be ruled out. Furthermore, after oral ingestion, they were "likely to accumulate in the body" . Following this expert opinion, the European Commission announced that it would give itself three years to decide on the future of TiO ₂ in pharmaceutical preparations.

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