Titanium dioxide is permanently banned from foods and food supplements in the EU, effective 7.2.22.
Thus ends, with Regulation (EU) 2022/63, the first round between consumer associations and industry lobbies. (1)
Brief summary on the history of E171, risks identified and bans introduced, toxic drugs, and the EU’s worst cancer.
‘The White of the 20th Century’
Titanium dioxide dye, discovered in 1821, has been produced on an industrial scale since 1916. Its color tone made it ‘the white of the 20th century.’ And nanotechnology had primal application precisely on its powder to improve its yields and versatility. Oil paints and porcelain, paints and inks, plastics and coatings, textiles and leather, paper. But also cosmetics and drugs, foods and dietary supplements.
E171-the food color additive-is composed of insoluble nanoparticles that the body accumulates in some vital organs, liver and spleen especially. It is neurotoxic, causes inflammation, and induces changes in the intestines (colon and rectum) that can develop into tumors over time. And it is genotoxic, that is, capable of damaging DNA. As a result, the EFSA Scientific Committee on Nanotechnology could not establish a safe daily intake level (2,3).
The great battle
Thousands of studies have considered the toxicity of titanium dioxide over the decades. (5) And it is to France’s credit that it has addressed the resulting food safety crisis with the strictest safeguard measure proportionate to the severity of the case, a ban on the use of E171 in all foods from beyond the Alps. (6)
However, the French ban sparked a revolt from the Commission and other member states, egged on by industrial lobbies. But the primary need to protect public health won out, thanks to the intervention of consumer groups-SAFE(Safe Food Advocacy Europe), Foodwatch, BEUC-and the European Parliament. (7)
Prohibition of use in foods and food supplements
Reg. EU 2022/63 definitively rules out, as previously announced, the use of titanium dioxide (E 171) in food. (8) So also in dietary supplements and chewing gum, which fall under the definition of food. (9) The transitional period is broken down as follows:
– 7.2.22 the use of titanium dioxide in all foods produced in the EU must be discontinued,
– by 7.8.22 foods containing E171-only when produced before 7.2.22 may be placed on the market,
– the above products may ‘remain on the market until the minimum shelf life or expiration date‘.
Toxic medicines
Medicines are still excluded from the ban, as has already been reported. Thus, the sparkling white color of a tablet or powder is worth more than the fact that it is carcinogenic and genotoxic. With two aggravating factors:
– the absence of alternatives, in most cases, for bothover-the-counter (Off the Counter, Class C) and prescription drugs,
– the systematic inattention of the medical profession to excipients and additives contained in various drugs, and to the availability of clean label alternatives.
Attention should also be paid to toothpastes. Only in the three years following the entry into force of the regulation will the Commission review the ‘need to maintain‘ titanium dioxide on the list of authorized additives in medicines.
Cancer
The worst cancer of our society is the ‘permeability’ of politics-and the top echelons of public administration-to private interests whose greed conflicts with public health and the common good. At the national and European levels.
The Cyprus Court of Auditors , to cite one example, reported the abnormal inflow in January 2021 of 4 million euros into the bank account of Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakidies’ husband.
Parliamentary question 6.4.21 on the above matter was answered after more than six months, on 25.10.21. And the answer, formulated by Ursula Von der Leyen herself, is self-explanatory. To each his own reflections.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Reg. EU 2022/63, Amending Annexes II and III of Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the food additive titanium dioxide (E 171). https://bit.ly/3FPDuBX
(2) Marta Strinati. EFSA: white titanium dioxide dye is carcinogenic. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 7.5.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/efsa-il-colorante-bianco-biossido-di-titanio-è-cancerogeno
(3) Marta Strinati. Stop titanium dioxide, interview with Francesco Cubadda, ISS expert. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 8.5.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/stop-al-biossido-di-titanio-intervista-a-francesco-cubadda-esperto-iss
(4) Marta Strinati. Titanium dioxide (E171), the enemy dye of the gut. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 7/30/17, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/biossido-di-titanio-e171-il-colorante-nemico-dell-intestino
(5) Marta Strinati. Titanium dioxide in foods. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 25.8.17, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/biossido-di-titanio-negli-alimenti
(6) Marta Strinati. E171, France bans titanium dioxide. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 4/25/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/e171-la-francia-vieta-il-biossido-di-titanio
(7) Marta Strinati. Titanium dioxide, a stop to the Commission from the EU Parliament. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 8.9.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/biossido-di-titanio-dal-parlamento-ue-uno-stop-alla-commissione
(8) Marta Strinati. Titanium dioxide banned in Europe from 2022. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.10.22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/biossido-di-titanio-bandito-in-europa-dal-2022
(9) See reg. EC 178/02, Article 2
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
