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The US and Canada, however, approve the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive. Canada's recent review of titanium dioxide reconfirmed its safety and pointed out that many of the toxicity studies the EU reviewed were not relevant to the safety of titanium dioxide as a food ingredient, and that the ban is based on an abundance of caution and uncertainty.

Then, there’s ultrafine-grade, also known as nanoscale titanium dioxide. This is used for its ability to scatter lightly as an ultra-fine powder. This gives it the ability to lightly absorb into the skin while providing a bit of transparency. Below, we’ll go more into the cosmetic uses of these two forms of titanium dioxide.

Although food-grade titanium dioxide must be 99 percent pure, there’s still a risk of it containing potential contaminants, such as mercury, lead and arsenic. Additionally, inhaling the mineral over time can possibly cause it to build up in your body, leading to adverse effects.

It's also added directly to food; mainly for coloring, but also as a thickener and to keep some powdered food, like confectioner's sugar, from clumping.   

A number of our toothpastes do not contain titanium dioxide, including some of our Signal products (Signal Bio, Signal Nature Element, Signal White System, Signal Kids (Baby & Junior), Signal White Now Detox, Signal Anti-Cavity), Love Beauty and Planet and Schmidt’s Naturals.

2. Cosmetics

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles may accumulate and cause DNA damage

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The lack of clear regulations and controls explains that P25TiO₂NPs are still found in many of the commercialized sunscreens in the market. Some of them are coated to reduce the photoactivity of the anatase form, which is known to be responsible for tissue damage, but not enough studies were made on these coated forms. The anatase photoactivity could trigger the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, as it was stated before. The ROS are chemically reactive species containing oxygen, such as peroxides, superoxide, hydroxyl radical, and singlet oxygen. They are regularly produced in the biological milieu and counterbalanced by physiological antioxidant defense mechanisms. However, an abrupt increase of ROS may result in non-reversible damage to the skin cells. The effects of coated and uncoated P25TiO₂NPs need therefore to be studied, and articles on this topic present different conclusions. [11], [12], [13] Recent literature on this topic found that TiO₂NPs inhalation provokes serious genotoxicity and DNA damage [14], [15], [16], [17]. On the other hand, some studies in rats have reported no significant harm to genetic material [18], [19], [20], [21], [22].