United States: In January, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibited the use of the food dye Red 3 in the United States as it demanded the removal of this brightly colored ingredient from candies and cough syrup together with baked products and frozen desserts by specific dates.
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FDA issued this ban because laboratory research showed the cancer-causing effects of the dye, known as erythrosine, on rats.
A federal regulating statute needs the FDA to ban food additives proven to cause cancer in animals. However, the FDA emphasizes that rats develop cancer from Red 3 differently than humans.
Among the many synthetic color additives permitted in US food, another nine dyes, including Red 3, appear, US News reported.
About various artificial colors
As per Sensient Food Colors, a St. Louis-based supplier of food colors and flavorings, synthetic dyes are petroleum-based chemicals that are not produced naturally. However, the US News reported that they are widely used in foods to “enhance the visual appeal” of products.
Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 form the standard list of food color additives, among many others.
The food industry only utilizes two special coloring agents, Citrus Red 2 and Orange B.
Organizations under the FDA certify synthetic color additives and establish regulations for their administration.
All companies manufacturing ingested drugs such as cough syrup have a January 2028 deadline to eliminate the dye from their products.
Demands to ban the dye
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, together with other consumer advocates, pushed for Red 3 food bans because studies proved a link between the dye and rat cancers.
The cosmetics industry had been prohibited from using the dye for decades, although food and ingested medications were allowed.
Artificial colorants have established links with behavioral issues among children, which manifest as hyperactivity combined with impulsivity in children who have a predisposition toward attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
As per Dr. L. Eugene Arnold, an emeritus psychiatry professor at Ohio State University, who studied dyes and their effect on behavior, who now advises CHADD, a support group for people with ADHD, “Artificial colors are not the main cause of ADHD, but they may contribute significantly to some cases,” US News reported.
According to the FDA, its staff members completed a review process that assessed how color additives impact children’s behavior. Results from a recent AP-NORC poll show that approximately 67 percent of Americans want authorities to ban artificial food ingredients like dyes and excessive added sugar from processed foods.