Europe
The Helsinki-based European
Chemicals
Agency is
currently
assessing a
French proposal
that TiO2 be
categorized as
dangerous on its
labels due to it
being possibly
carcinogenic
through
inhalation.
Initiative to Classify TiO2 as Hazardous Substance Could
Have Significant Impact on the EU Coatings Industry
by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodmanmedia.com
The coating industry and its suppliers in Europe have been issuing dire warnings about a move in the European Union to
classify titanium dioxide as a hazardous substance.
The Helsinki-based European Chemicals
Agency (ECHA), which is responsible for the
implementation of the EU’s main industrial
chemicals legislation, is currently assessing a
French proposal that TiO2 be categorized as
dangerous on its labels due to it being possibly
carcinogenic through inhalation.
“This is an initiative whose results could be
drastic,” said Janice Robinson, product regulations director, at the European Council of Paint,
Printing Ink and Artists’ Colours Industry (CEPE),
Europe’s main coatings trade association.
CEPE has issued a statement listing several major consequences if the European
Commission, the EU’s Brussels-based executive,
decides to support a recommendation that TiO2
be classified as hazardous under the Union’s
system for the harmonization of classification
and labeling of dangerous chemicals.
At the moment, under the EU’s Classification,
Labeling and Packaging (CLP) regulation, the
pigment is effectively considered to be a benign
chemical without the need for a danger warning.
An immediate consequence of it being classified under the CLP rules as being inherently
hazardous would be that under the REACH
legislation, which, with the CLP regulation, are
two major pieces of chemicals legislation run
by ECHA, products like decorative paints containing possible carcinogens cannot be sold to
consumers. This would mean that decorative
coatings could not be marketed directly for
DIY purposes but would have to be sold only to
