EU Mulls Ruling Overturning Common Whitener as Cancer-Causing

The European Commission said Friday it was assessing a European Union court decision that overturned the bloc’s classification of the widely used substance titanium dioxide as carcinogenic.

The commission, the EU’s executive, had yet to decide whether to appeal the ruling, said spokesman Adalbert Jahnz.

“We take note of the court ruling and we will study it carefully,” he said.

The commission in 2019 classified titanium dioxide as a carcinogen when inhaled in powder form. But the EU’s lower court, the General Court, on Nov. 23 annulled that decision because it hadn’t been based on “reliable and acceptable studies.”

The court also said that the commission’s 2019 decision was invalid because it considered titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic hazard only when “linked solely to certain respirable titanium dioxide particles, when they are present in a certain form, physical state, size and quantity.”

In EU law, “the classification of a substance as carcinogenic can apply only to a substance that has the intrinsic property to cause cancer,” the court said.

Used in Paints, Cleaning Products

Titanium dioxide is a whitener used in paints, cleaning products, cosmetics, toothpaste, sunscreens, paper, and plastics.

The EU’s 2019 classification of titanium dioxide as carcinogenic in certain circumstances sparked criticism from the US, Australia, and New Zealand for potentially harming trade in the substance and products containing it.

The US Food and Drug Administration also has deemed titanium dioxide safe enough to be added to foods.

The chemical’s many uses translate into an annual production of more than one million metric tons of annually in Europe and between one billion and five billion pounds in the US in recent years, according to the European Chemicals Agency and the US Environmental Protection Agency, respectively.

The Brussels-based Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association said the ruling was welcome, though it had learned lessons “about improving the scientific communication related to the safety” of the substance.

Among the backers of the industry’s case were paint, coatings and aluminum companies “who have been negatively impacted by the EU classification,” the association said.

The American Coatings Associations, Inc., joined its European counterparts and individual companies in opposing the Commission’s classification of the chemical.

Companies making and using chemicals in the US are affected by the EU’s regulations as they export those compounds or goods made with them to that region.

International classifications of chemicals also arise in US policy discussions.

The Environmental Working Group, for example, asked the FDA in 2021 to ban titanium dioxide from food after the European Food Safety Authority said the chemical was no longer safe.