US asks EU to postpone titanium dioxide, cobalt metal classifications

"The US has asked the EU to postpone its proposal to classify titanium dioxide and cobalt metal as carcinogens, warning that these moves may be ""unnecessarily disruptive to billions of dollars of US-EU trade."" In a statement to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 21 March, the US called for a clarification on why titanium dioxide, which is labelled as 'low toxicity' in Echa's scientific Opinion, was being classified as a category 2 carcinogen. It says the US is concerned that products containing the substance, including paints, cosmetics and plastics, will have to be reformulated or labelled as containing a carcinogen. And it asks if the EU is diverging from the GHS for titanium dioxide and if so why, given that there are ""far less trade disruptive alternatives"".