Biden Administration Bans US Red Dye No 3 Over Cancer Warnings: What It Means For Consumers

Biden administration announced that it has banned Red Dye No. 3, a colouring used in food and drugs, that health advocates have long protested is carcinogenic to animals. The rule was finalized Wednesday and has been more than four decades in the making.

US FDA revoked its permit for Red Dye No. 3 for usage in food and drugs intended to be ingested. A rule explaining the rule was published by the Department of Health and Human Services in its Federal Register. The nearly 3,000 food products which are sold over the US which contain Red Dye No. 3 include candies and snack foods maraschino cherries, among others.

After a petition filed in 2022 by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and other advocacy groups, the decision was arrived at. The petitioners invoked the “Delaney Clause,” which requires the banning of any colour additive that is shown to cause cancer in humans or animals.

The FDA knew about the cancer risks that came with using Red Dye No. 3 as early as 1990, when they banned its use in cosmetics based on the established fact that the dye causes cancer in lab rats. However, the food industry would have other plans and allowed the additive to continue being included in foods.

US is now one of the last major economies to ban the dye, as the European Union, Japan, China, the UK, and several others have banned it for years.

CSPI hailed the ban as long overdue and urged the Obama administration to address other chemicals found in food that will easily lead people astray. Such additives, they claimed, have no nutritional value but merely only to enhance the colour of the product.