The administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a ban on Red Dye No. 3, a controversial food and drug coloring that has long been known to cause cancer in animals.
Red 3, as it is also called, is currently used in about 3,000 food products in the United States, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which first raised alarm decades ago after scientific evidence first raised alarm.
“FDA is revoking the authorized use of FD&C Red No. 3 in food and oral medications in the color additive regulations,” a Department of Health and Human Services document published in the Federal Register on Wednesday said.
The decision comes after a petition filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other advocacy groups in November 2022 cited the “Delaney Clause” – a provision that prohibits any drug that causes cancer in humans. Mandates prohibition of color additives. Or animals.
In particular, the FDA determined as early as 1990 that RAD 3 should be banned in cosmetics because of its link to thyroid cancer in laboratory rats.
However, largely due to resistance from the food industry, the use of additives in foods continued. For example, makers of maraschino cherries rely on Red 3 to maintain the iconic red color of their products.
It is also present in thousands of candies, snacks, and fruit products.
The United States is one of the last major economies to crack down on the dye. The European Union banned its use in 1994, with similar bans also implemented in Japan, China, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
CSPI called the decision overdue and hoped it would lead to further action against other potentially harmful chemicals in food.
“They don’t add any nutritional value, they don’t preserve the food – they’re just to make the food look pretty,” Thomas Galligan, a CSPI scientist, told AFP.
“There is growing discussion across the political spectrum about food additives and chemicals, which reflects the continuing failures by the FDA.”
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