In response to the allegations, Justin Comes, vice president of research and development at Mars Wrigley North America, told Health that safety is of paramount importance to Mars Wrigley. While we do not comment on pending litigation, all Mars Wrigley ingredients are safe and manufactured in compliance with strict quality and safety requirements established by food safety regulators, including the FDA.

The vitaminB2@TiO₂NPs were obtained at room temperature, by a method developed after trying several ratios of reactants. Briefly, 0.02 g of P25TiO₂NPs were dispersed in 1 mL of ultra-pure water and stirred in a Vortex. Next, 200 μl of vitamin B2 dissolved in ultra-pure water (5.3 × 10⁻³ M) were added to 200 μL of P25TiO2NPs and the mixture was ultrasonicated for 1 hour to achieve a deep-yellow homogeneous suspension. The pellet obtained after centrifuging the suspension for 10 min at 4500 rpm was resuspended in ultrapure water, centrifuged again, and then lyophilized.

The second quarter of 2022 saw mixed market sentiments for titanium dioxide prices. Due to demands, constrained supply and ineffective production capacity brought on by the stretched supply chain, labour shortage, and high energy prices, the production of the chemical increased in Q2 of 2022. Moreover, the US Federal Reserve's tight monetary policy and high interest rates worsened the domestic trade picture, which at quarter's conclusion supported titanium dioxide's unfavourable market views.

R-818:

How is titanium dioxide extracted?

But this is just the tip of the ice berg so many articles & studies are coming out challenging the safety of Titanium Dioxide in our food supply & personal care products.

The skin of an adult person is, in most places, covered with a relatively thick (∼10 μm) barrier of keratinised dead cells. One of the main questions is still whether TiO₂ NPs are able to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin. The majority of studies suggest that TiO₂ NPs, neither uncoated nor coated (SiO₂, Al₂O₃ and SiO₂/Al₂O₃) of different crystalline structures, penetrate normal animal or human skin. However, in most of these studies the exposures were short term (up to 48 h); only few long-term or repeated exposure studies have been published. Wu et al.83 have shown that dermal application of nano-TiO₂ of different crystal structures and sizes (4–90 nm) to pig ears for 30 days did not result in penetration of NPs beyond deep epidermis. On the other hand, in the same study the authors reported dermal penetration of TiO₂ NPs with subsequent appearance of lesions in multiple organs in hairless mice, that were dermal exposed to nano-TiO₂ for 60 days. However, the relevance of this study for human exposure is not conclusive because hairless mice skin has abnormal hair follicles, and mice stratum corneum has higher lipid content than human stratum corneum, which may contribute to different penetration. Recently Sadrieh et al. performed a 4 week dermal exposure to three different TiO₂ particles (uncoated submicron-sized, uncoated nano-sized and coated nano-sized) in 5 % sunscreen formulation with minipigs. They found elevated titanium levels in epidermis, dermis and in inguinal lymph nodes, but not in precapsular and submandibular lymph nodes and in liver. With the energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis the authors confirmed presence of few TiO₂ particles in dermis and calculated that uncoated nano-sized TiO₂ particles observed in dermis represented only 0.00008 % of the total applied amount of TiO₂ particles. Based on the same assumptions used by the authors in their calculations it can be calculated that the total number of particles applied was 1.8 × 10¹³ /cm² and of these 1.4 x10⁷/cm² penetrated. The surface area of skin in humans is around 1.8 m²  and for sun protection the cream is applied over whole body, which would mean that 4 week usage of such cream with 5 % TiO₂ would result in penetration of totally 2.6 × 10¹⁰ particles. Although Sadrieh et al.concluded that there was no significant penetration of TiO₂ NPs through intact normal epidermis, the results are not completely confirmative.

They are the only two sunscreen ingredients classified by the FDA as safe and effective. And though titanium dioxide is usually used in mineral sunscreens in the form of nanoparticles, evidence suggests that few, if any, particles penetrate the skin.