“100% of animal milks (fresh or powder, from cows, donkey or goats)”, from organic or conventional farming, and 83% of infantile milks (from 1st to 3rd age, organic or not) analyzed contain titanium dioxide (AFP / Fred Dufour)
Particles of titanium dioxide, potential carcinogen in humans, however prohibited in food, have been found in breast milk, natural military and milk sold in the trade, reveal scientficial work of INRAE, AP-HP and CNRS published on Wednesday.
“Massively used in a multitude of everyday products” (toothpaste, solar creams, drugs, plastics, makeup, paper, paintings …) and used as a white and opacifying coloring in food (E171), titanium dioxide was prohibited as a precaution in France in 2020 and then in the European Union in 2022, recall researchers.
Their work, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, show, however, that this compound has been detected “in human, animal and infantiles, especially in the form of nanoparticles”.
Titanium dioxide particles have been found in “the maternal milks of ten volunteer women living in Paris or in the near suburbs, at variable rates, certain women with up to 15 times more particles than others”, which proves that this substance “can pass the barrier from the mammary gland”.
“100% of animal milks (fresh or powder, from cows, donkey or goats)”, both from organic and conventional farming, and 83% of infant milks (from trade, from 1st to 3rd age, organic or not) analyzed contained.
In detail, 6 million at 3.9 billion titanium particles were detected per liter of infant milk, and 16 to 348 million per liter in animal milks.
“This inventory of the current contamination of milks reflects the level of exposure of newborns and mothers, but also adult milk consumers”, specify the researchers. And this, despite the prohibition of the E171 in food, suggesting “the existence of other” than eating contamination, they emphasize.
Titanium dioxide has been classified as a potential carcinogenic in humans by inhalation since 2006, recall the scientists of INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment), the AP-HP (Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris), Synchrotron Soleil and CNRS, the National Center for Scientific Research.
The authors of this study wanted to better assess “the impact of this massive release of titanium dioxide on living things” and “real exposure of animals and humans”.
It had already been shown that the nanoparticles present in the Additive E171 crossed the placenta.
This work will be able to serve as a basis for future toxicity studies.
