High quality supplements?: Dr. Marasco

March 17, 2002

Hi ,

>>>I did a bit of research on titanium dioxide a while back because I was

also

concerned. I'm still not thrilled with the stuff, but *supposedly* it's

exremely chemically stable (inert) which means that it's not very likely to

cause problems. That probably doesn't make you feel a lot better since it

doesn't do that much for me either, but I thought I'd share it anyway...

***Thanks for sharing your findings. I first became concerned about it when

I found it listed in the ingredients in the dog food I was feeding a few

years ago. One of my dogs died an extremely premature death (cancer) in

2000, which is when I stopped feeding commercial pet foods as I began to

learn of many of the harmful ingredients that go into them. I asked the

company why it was in their food, and they told me it was in there to make

it appear attractive to the consumer. I believe it makes the chunks of food

look shiny. Although Titanium dioxide is usually used as a pigment to make

paint white. (This is a company that has pet food containing pentobarbital

from euthanized pets that go into their products, according to a recent FDA

study.) According to a well known holistic vet who served as a liason to

the AAFCO, (the organization that quasi-regulates pet food ingredients),

titanium dioxide is not technically recognized by the feds as GRAS

(Generally Recognized As Safe), but is listed as " exempt from

certification. " I'm not sure what the company who applied for exemption did,

to get that status... The vet also wrote that titanium dioxide is a

component of smog and coal dust, and is a lung irritant. In pet foods, it's

allowed to be 1% of total food by weight.

My dog died of cancer in his respiratory system...probably just a

coincidence, but I'm opposed to titanium dioxdide used in food, for either

pets or humans. Just wanted to let you know where I'm coming from on this

issue

Suze Fisher

Web Design & Development

mailto:cfisher@...

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