New lawsuit claims Skittles 'are unfit for human consumption' due to the presence of chemical toxin the company has said it would stop using

• The maker of Skittles is facing a lawsuit over its use of titanium dioxide.

• In 2016 the company promised to stop using it.

• Mineral sunscreens use titanium dioxide to give colors a brighter look.

Skittles is being sued over its use of a toxic chemical.

According to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Northern District of California, Mars Inc. is deceiving customers and putting their health at risk by using titanium dioxide in its candy. The package design makes it hard for reasonable consumers to inform themselves, according to the suit.

Mars pledged in 2016 to phase out the use of titanium dioxide, or TiO2, stating at the time that it would remove the chemical and all artificial colorings from its products.

In April of this year, a package of Skittles was purchased by Thames. The chemical is listed in the online ingredient lists of major retailers.

The company doesn't comment on pending litigation, according to a Mars spokesman.

Titanium dioxide is used in a wide range of industrial applications. It is used in mineral sunscreens.

Safety regulators have noted that the nanoparticles that make TiO2 so effective as a sunblock are indigestible and that the use of TiO2 in food is more controversial. Alterations to DNA, chromosomal damage, inflammation, and cell neurosis are some of the health ailments it has caused.

The European Union and France have both banned the use of TiO2 in food products. According to the lawsuit, Mars said it would obey the law in France.

Lawyers for the company are trying to get class-action status for all of their US retail customers. The nation's top non-chocolate chewy candy was Skittles, which sold an estimated 185 million in the US in savesay savesay savesay savesay's top non-chocolate chewy candy was Skittles, which sold an estimated 185 million in the US in savesay savesay savesay's top non-

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