The EU food authority has rated the dye titanium dioxide as “no longer safe”, and the additive for sweets and cake icing is on the horizon.
But the connection can also be found in around 30,000 drugs across the EU.
From Martin Rücker
Ibuprofen tablets, cholesterol-lowering drugs, Viagra pills, Ritalin preparations or the antibiotic Ciprobay: The European drug authorities are currently examining whether a substance in numerous drugs could cause cancer.
And whether this substance must therefore be banned not only in food, but also in medicines.
Should that happen, the pharmaceutical industry would have a problem.
Titanium dioxide: suspected cancerous substance in food since the 1960s
It's about titanium dioxide, a real miracle substance: It can be produced cheaply, colors the icing flower white, makes the colors in candies shine, and ensures a smooth coating on chocolate lentils. Food manufacturers have been using the additive in numerous products since the 1960s. This could soon be over: if the European Commission has its way, titanium dioxide will disappear from the ingredient lists. There the connection often appears under the abbreviation "E 171".
A few days ago, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) classified the widely used dye as “no longer safe”.
As a food additive, titanium dioxide is suspected of being genetically damaging and carcinogenic.
The harmful effect is not considered proven, but could not be eliminated either.
In addition, the substance accumulates in the body.
Therefore, according to the agency, there is no safe amount that people can ingest.
Federal Food Minister Julia Klöckner also spoke out in favor of an EU-wide ban at the beginning of May.
Medicines authorities initiate testing of titanium dioxide
The EFSA assessment also put drug regulators into action. Because the suspicious compound is contained in numerous drugs as an auxiliary substance. Formally, the European food authority has only assessed the risk of titanium dioxide as a food additive - but the parallels to pharmaceuticals are obvious: As in chewing gum and baking decorations, the pigment in film-coated tablets and capsules ensures brilliant white and smooth surfaces, the pills are swallowed just like chocolate nuts, by some patients daily.
Titanium dioxide is therefore now being questioned for drugs as well.
On request, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) declares that a coordination process between the European approval authorities has already been initiated.
A spokesman for the BfArM expects expert discussions for the next few days.
The EMA confirms that the use of titanium dioxide in pharmaceuticals is being put to the test.
There are 30,000 medicines containing titanium dioxide in Europe
The test is just as important for consumers as it is for the pharmaceutical industry: for patients, the question is whether they are exposing themselves to health risks by taking pills that have nothing to do with the active ingredient and its side effects. For manufacturers, it is a question of whether they have to change the composition of thousands of drugs - because titanium dioxin is almost omnipresent in the pharmaceutical industry. If you search for titanium dioxide in the “Yellow List”, a drug directory for Germany, you will get more than 13,500 hits. The European Commission estimates that there are 30,000 medicines containing titanium dioxide on the market in the EU.
Titanium dioxide can simply be dispensed with in food, it only has an aesthetic function.
According to the European Medicines Agency, however, the substance also has a protective effect on drugs: As a coating agent, titanium dioxide ensures the quality and stability of the active ingredients.
To make matters worse, there is obviously a lack of alternatives.
With reference to the pharmaceutical industry, the European Commission assumes that titanium dioxide cannot currently be directly replaced by any other substance.
Titanium dioxide in toothpaste could possibly also be carcinogenic
And yet another product group comes into focus: toothpaste. Many manufacturers also rely on titanium dioxide, including Blend-a-med and dm - "for coloring", as market leader Colgate expressly says. Even popular children's products contain the controversial additive, mostly hidden behind the pigment name “CI 77891” in the contents on the tube. How safe titanium dioxide is in toothpaste is apparently not clear: the BfR simply has no data on which particle sizes can be found in toothpaste.
From the BfR's point of view, it is “primarily” about the small amounts of toothpaste that people accidentally swallow.
It remains to be seen whether contact with the oral mucosa can also lead to risks.
Germany will advocate testing toothpaste in particular, said a spokeswoman for Federal Minister Julia Klöckner.
However, it would be much easier for manufacturers here than for the pharmaceutical industry: They could - already now - simply leave out the dye.
The entire research including all links to original sources can be found at BuzzFeed News Germany. * BuzzFeed News is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
[Disclosure: The author was the managing director of the consumer organization foodwatch until February 2021, which advocates a ban on titanium dioxide as a food additive. Today he works as a freelance journalist again.]
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