ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

06 July 2018

NGOs call for urgent classification of titanium dioxide as a carcinogen

ECOS is one of more than a dozen NGOs to have written to the European Commission and to REACH national competent authorities to express concern about not respecting legal requirements and procedures on titanium dioxide, a chemical substance widely used in consumer products including sunscreens.

As part of the REACH registration process, titanium dioxide (TiO2) was recently evaluated by the French government as a suspected human carcinogen. This means that the substance should be classified and labelled as such according to the Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances (CLP Regulation 1272/2008).

Given how broadly the substance is used (whether the larger particle sizes or in nano-sizes), the European Commission and many member states proposed a compromise against scientific evidence in face of strong industry lobbying. ECOS will continue to work with other civil society organisations to demand that the legal framework and procedures be respected to protect human health.

Read our letter here.

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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