The draft screening assessment report for TiO2 and related titanium compounds is scheduled for publication in Canada in 2023, under the federal government’s Chemicals Management. The Canadian government was clearly leaning towards a declaration for TiO2 similar to that of the European Union in 2020. Industry is now hopeful Canada will seriously consider recent decisions taken in Europe in November 2022 wherein the European General Court quashed the European Commission’s 2020 classification of TiO2 as a Category 2 carcinogen. Until that happened, the coatings industry and others were bracing for the impact if that were the same course of action taken in Canada, as TiO2 is widely used in the coatings industry and many others. No further data is being sought by Canadian officials as there appears to be an adequate toxicological database for an informed decision in the imminent TiO2 assessment. Industry stakeholders are still waiting to see the selected data endpoints and calculated margins of exposure once the Government’s draft assessment is published this spring.
When the EU classification was issued in 2020, the industry in Europe, North America, and in other countries strongly contested it and argued the decision was flawed. It was not based on substantive scientific data. Industry organizations lobbying the European Commission’s technical agencies demanded a more rational science-based approach. These groups included association members of the World Coatings Council (WCC) such as CPCA, ACA, BCF, ABRAFATI, CEPE and others. Of course, the Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA) was leading the effort and left no stone unturned in refuting such an arbitrary approach to the data supporting the Category 2 classification.