FDA Bans Red Dye #3

On January 15th, 2025, the FDA banned red dye #3 from all foods and drugs in the United States. Red dye #3, also known as erythrosine, is what gives treats like candy corn and gummy bears a bright cherry red color, making them appealing to kids on Halloween night. It's also commonly found in cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, and frostings.

Incredibly, red dye #3 has been banned from cosmetics in the United States for 35 years! Apparently it was too dangerous for lipstick but safe enough for frosted circus animal cookies? Well done FDA....

To top it all off, red dye #3 was already restricted for use in food across many countries including the EU, Australia and New Zealand. How is it that we've been giving this potential toxin to kids in the United States for decades when others made the obvious choice to make it illegal? Let's talk about the potential dangers of red dye #3 and discuss why Americans are so unhealthy.

Per the Delaney Clause which went into effect in 1958, it is illegal for food additives to be authorized in the United States if they're proven to cause cancer in humans or animals. There was a petition filed to see if the Delaney Clause applied to red dye #3 based on multiple studies in rats. The study results, which showed red dye #3 does cause cancer in rats, led to it being banned from cosmetics in 1990. However, the FDA decided at the time it was still safe for humans based on the amounts used in food. They didn't believe that people would consume red dye #3 in portions large enough to cause cancer. But why then would you ban it from cosmetics? Again, this is extremely confusing as you'd certainly absorb more dye by consuming food than you would by applying lipstick.

The evidence linking red dye #3 to cancer in rats has been around for 35 years, but the FDA is only just now banning it from foods and drugs. Even the "ban" is faulty as it allows companies to continue using it for the next 2 years! These garbage products can remain on the shelf and companies can continue to use red dye #3 until January 2027. How a potential toxin with no use outside of coloring has made it this long in the US food market is beyond me.

There's also emerging evidence that synthetic food dyes cause increased inattention and hyperactivity in children. As such, activists are trying to get warning labels put on products with synthetic food dyes that have been linked to ADHD. This is already happening in the EU where labels with red dye 40, a likely alternative to red dye #3, state there may be "an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." Yellow 5, or tartrazine, has also been linked with hyperactivity in kids.

The FDA is finally getting its sh*t together with food dyes, though there are still many on the market. However, even with these bans, there is a fundamental issue with American health that won't be solved by removing potentially harmful coloring agents from food. There is an epidemic of obesity in this country caused by a lack of movement and the availability of garbage foods on every corner. Dyes aren't making people fat, calories are. We've literally poisoned the food supply, and calorie dense foods are slowly killing people across the country. We also subsidize the worst foods, meaning the poorest people in this country are stuck with the most harmful options.

As a reminder, heart disease kills more Americans than anything else. War, kidney disease, diabetes, car accidents, etc... None of them come even close to heart disease. We need to undergo a fundamental shift in our approach to food and activity as a country if this is to be turned around. To learn more about what kills Americans, see our article from 2023 below:

Ultimately, I'm glad the FDA banned red dye #3, and I think it's a step in the right direction. I'm still left wondering, "What took so damn long?"

*Information presented on RxTeach does not represent the opinion of any specific company, organization, or team other than the authors themselves. No patient-provider relationship is created.