Toxic lobbying: the titanium dioxide label debate continues

For the past two years, in the anonymous committee rooms of the EU institutions, member states and Commission officials have been debating whether and how to regulate a chemical found in many everyday substances. You may not have heard of titanium dioxide, but check the list of ingredients in your toothpaste, sunscreen, or cosmetics, and you may well find it. The French Government, backed by the European Chemicals Agency, considers it to be a “suspected carcinogen” when inhaled, and today (1 July) the Commission and member state officials will once again meet to discuss how to handle this chemical. The classification of titanium dioxide by the EU as a “suspected carcinogen” would not lead to a ban, or even to restrictions on the chemical or its use, but would simply mean that products containing it need to be clearly labelled as potentially carcinogenic, to provide information to workers and consumers. This makes the clamour of industry lobbyists against classification especially shocking.