These drugs well known to the French could contain carcinogenic elements

Doliprane, Spasfon, Imodium… so many drugs well known to the French and which are part of their daily lives. Problem, they could contain harmful products, even carcinogenic, reveals a file devoted to drugs by the magazine Kali. And the main observation that their research highlights is that “800 drugs (among those most prescribed) contain titanium dioxide”, explained Wednesday, December 22 the editor of the magazine on franceinfo, Christelle Pangrazzi, relay LCI.

It should be remembered that the dye E171 (which gives a white color) had been controversial in recent months, especially in the food sector, because it contains titanium dioxide. However, this is suspected of causing genotoxicity problems. It will also be banned in 2022. A substance further considered as “possible carcinogenic” by the Belgian Superior Health Council. LCI recalls in addition that researchers had also unveiled results according to which rats had been able to present precancerous lesions because of these nanoparticles.

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Low but potentially dangerous doses

For its part, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) had judged that there was a risk of absorbing E171, in particular because even if the number of titanium dioxide particles is low, “they can s ‘accumulate in the organism “. In view of her results, Kali calls for a change in the regulations concerning nanoparticles. “These are extremely small substances that can lodge in the heart of cells and probably modify them”, details the magazine, which calls for the withdrawal of “most dangerous”. In addition, Christelle Pangrazzi recalled that E171 was only used to bleach drugs and was not essential. She denounced on franceinfo the “reluctance” of laboratories to change their formulas.

But the problem is twofold. Because besides the drug, titanium dioxide is also present in several cosmetic products, note LCI. The association Act for the environment had in particular pointed out the presence of titanium dioxide in more than 400 toothpastes. Here again, it is not the incorporated dose, but the fact of being confronted with it daily, sometimes even several times in the same day, which poses a problem.