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Titanium dioxide is often used as a UV absorber and pigment in cosmetic products, such as foundations, lipsticks, creams, sunscreens and other skin care products. It helps protect the skin from the harmful effects of UV rays by blocking them, while providing a brightening effect.
It's also worth noting that even prior to the EU decision, France had already outlawed titanium dioxide in food back in January 2020.
In a statement sent to USA TODAY on Sunday, Justin Comes, vice president of research and development for Skittles maker Mars Wrigley North America, said the company couldn't comment on pending litigation – but that its use of titanium dioxide and all Mars Wrigley ingredients are safe and manufactured in compliance with strict quality and safety requirements established by food safety regulators, including the FDA.
Titanium dioxide is typically micronized and coated for use in cosmetics products. The micronizing makes this somewhat heavy-feeling ingredient easier to spread on skin, plus a bit more cosmetically elegant. Micronized titanium dioxide is much more stable and can provide better sun protection than non-micronized titanium dioxide.
Titanium Dioxide is one of the two members of the elite sunscreen group called physical sunscreens (or inorganic sunscreens if you’re a science geek and want to be precise).
There is some concern regarding skin and intestinal absorption of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, which are less than 100 nm in diameter.
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Having thus described the origin and uses of the pigment, we now come to the question, what is lithopone? It is, in short, a chemical compound usually consisting of 30.5 per cent zinc sulphide, 1.5 per cent zinc oxide and 68 per cent barium sulphate, but these proportions vary slightly in the different makes. Lithopone of this composition is sold as the highest grade, either as red seal or green seal, as it best suits the idea of the manufacturer. Many manufacturers, especially in Europe, sell and also export other brands under other seals, containing 24, 20, 18 and as little as 12 per cent of zinc sulphide with very small percentages of zinc oxide, the balance being usually barium sulphate, but sometimes certain portions of China clay or gypsum (calcium sulphate) or whiting (calcium carbonate). Such brands are not a chemical compound, but mechanical mixtures of the chemically compounded lithopone and the admixtures referred to.
In addition to the toxic effects of TiO2 NPs, discussed in previous chapters, these NPs have been also shown to promote photosynthesis and nitrogen metabolism, resulting in the enhanced growth of spinach. It increases the absorption of light and accelerates the transfer and transformation of the light energy. It was also found that treatment with nano-sized TiO2 significantly increased the level of antioxidant enzymes, and decreased the ROS accumulation and malonyldialdehyde content in spinach chloroplasts under visible and UV irradiation. TiO2 NPs also increased the superoxide dismutase activity of germinating soybean, enhanced its antioxidant ability, and promoted seed germination and seedling growth.
According to the EFSA's Expert Panel on Food Additives and Flavorings 2021 opinion regarding titanium dioxide, it could not rule out a concern for genotoxicity from ingestion of the material based on a perceived gap in data on this risk, which serves as the basis for current ban, said a March report on the decision.