US Delay in Banning Food Dyes is a Symptom of a Larger Problem
The data on chemical food additive risks is overwhelming, but public policy does not keep up
https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/us-delay-in-banning-food-dyes-is
ROBERT W MALONE MD, MS 2025.04.22 Mon
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Today, Secretary Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Makary are expected to announce another step forward in the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. Today’s milestone involves the long-delayed banning of several chemical food additive dyes that have been associated with Cancer and childhood Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
This creates an opportunity for a look behind the scenes to examine and understand why this took so long, and what this can teach us about why the American public is spending more and more money on health research and health bureaucracy while becoming less and less healthy. Coming as no surprise to anyone paying attention, the answers are complicated, but some general trends are beginning to come into focus.
As the sun set on the Biden administration, the FDA finally acted on the overwhelming body of data demonstrating a variety of toxicities associated with Red Dye #2 and belatedly banned this food additive. The appearance being that this action was in anticipation of the MAHA movement bringing new scrutiny, policies, and oversight concerning toxic food additives. Over the last few days, multiple domestic and foreign “trusted’ corporate news outlets have written that the Trump administration Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, will hold a joint press conference today to announce a ban on up to eight additional food dye additives.
These dyes are just a few of the approximately 10,000 “organic” (which is to say petroleum carbon-based) compounds authorized by the FDA for inclusion in US foods. Those following along may recall that in the early 1900s, John D. Rockefeller restructured American medicine (via the Flexner report) to focus on the use of synthetic petroleum-based medicines, which Rockefeller viewed as a chance to monopolize the oil, chemical, and medical industries simultaneously. The development and use of synthetic dyes and other compounds in food predominantly occurred at this same time. At about the same time, the modern era of the FDA began in 1906 with the passage of the Federal Food and Drugs Act.
A century and change later, the American public routinely consumes vast quantities of petroleum-based food additives and medicines that the FDA has deemed safe based on limited (often outdated) research. In most cases, historically, once these compounds are deemed safe by government bureaucrats (often based on short-term animal toxicity studies), little or no systematic follow-up is performed by FDA to verify that long-term cumulative toxicities do not develop in humans. As if this were not bad enough, potential toxic interactions between these petrochemicals are rarely, if ever, investigated.
If you are one of those who are concerned about the failure of FDA and CDC to investigate possible long-term complications including adverse interactions between vaccines currently recommended (or mandated) for the nation’s children, you may be experiencing a bit of deja vu right about now. What that teaches is that current regulatory norms are profoundly outdated, in significant part because they were developed during a simpler time. Simpler in the sense of fewer “moving parts”, a time when people were exposed to fewer synthetic drugs, vaccines, food additives and other potential environmental toxins. But now everything is more complicated, and as our health has deteriorated, the FDA and CDC have remained bound to the idea that the acceptably simplistic approach to food and drug safety is to rely on a snapshot of data concerning the safety (or effect) of single agents in isolation. But that is not the world we live in now. Now it is everything, all at once, all the time. Increasingly complex systems of interacting synthetic compounds, added in layers upon layers. Ferreting out the role of any of these in the deteriorating health of Americans now cries out for periodic re-evaluation of safety, long-term follow-up studies, and new methods for detecting complicated webs of drug-drug interactions, food additive interactions, and vaccine interactions. Everything all at once.
What’s a reform-minded HHS Secretary or FDA Commissioner to do? Think global, but act local. Start with the little things. If long-overlooked data demonstrate that certain food additives or pharmaceuticals show signs of long-term toxic effects, and these compounds are not essential for one reason or another, then remove the approval for their use in interstate commerce!
In a familiar refrain, self-anointed defenders of the MAHA movement legacy have been criticizing the decision to focus on a food dye ban while issues like the failure of the COVID-19 genetic vaccines’ to meet safety and efficacy standards remain unaddressed, and the next generation of mRNA vaccine technology - self-replicating RNA vaccines developed by adapting certain neurotropic RNA virus biology to provide yet another class of gene therapy technology-based vaccines- is granted accelerated review by the FDA. Together with other colleagues, about three years ago I called for these COVID genetic therapy-based products to be withdrawn from the market due to failure to meet risk/benefit requirements for virtually all cohorts. But this remains a controversial minority opinion. Until the general public become convinced by “official” data and reports that they were lied to, implementing a unilateral ban on this technology will be political suicide for either RFKjr or Marty Makary. There is an ongoing campaign to acquire those data and generate those reports, just as there are also clearly campaigns to take action on those things that can be accomplished to improve the health of Americans today.
And one of those things is for FDA policy to catch up with the science and epidemiology of synthetic food additives, beginning with petroleum-based dyes. Or, to put it another way, to make the FDA do its job and protect the American people from toxic food additives. Beginnings are sensitive times; it's best to begin with the easy stuff.
At issue are the following food dyes and examples of foods in which they are used:
FD&C Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue)- Canned processed peas. Packet soups. Bottled food colorings. Icings. Ice pops. Blueberry flavored products. Dairy products. Sweets. Soft drinks. Children's medications. Salad dressings. Cheesy snacks.
FD&C Blue No. 2 - Dessert powders, bakery goods, cereals, snack foods, confectionery products, maraschino cherries, sausage, ice cream, sherbet, and dairy products. Additionally, it is used in beverages, candy, and even some pet foods.
FD&C Green No. 3 (Fast Green) - Processed foods: These include various snacks, candies, and beverages that are not typically made at home. Specific examples include certain types of candies, ice creams, and beverages. Used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, but not in products applied to the eye area. In medications, it is used to color pills and capsules for easier identification, and in cosmetics, it is used in products like shampoos, soaps, lotions, deodorants, toothpaste, and shaving creams.
FD&C Red No. 3 (Erythrosine, Indigo Carmine, Indigotine, already earmarked for a federal ban beginning on Jan. 15, 2027) Cake decorating gel, candies, and popsicles. It has been linked to cancer in animals, as studies have shown that lab rats fed high doses of the dye over long periods developed tumors in their thyroids.
Citrus Red No. 2 - used to dye oranges, particularly Florida oranges
FD&C Red No. 40 (Allura Red AC) - Dairy products. Sweets and baked goods, Snacks and breakfast cereals. Beverages. Pickles. Salad dressings and sauces. Cheesy snacks. Fruit juices and iced tea. Peanut butter flavored snacks. Over-the-counter medications and vitamins.
FD&C Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine) - Pastries, biscuits, marzipan, baked goods, dessert powders, instant puddings, gelatin desserts, cake mixes, and custard powder. Also found in cereals like corn flakes and muesli, instant or "cube" soups, rices such as paella and risotto, noodles, pureed fruit, and pickled peppers. It is also present in confectionery, cotton candy, soft drinks, flavored chips, Kool-Aid, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, ice cream, ice pops, candy, chewing gum, marzipan, jam, jelly, gelatins, marmalade, mustard, horseradish, yogurt, pickles, certain brands of fruit squash, fruit cordial, chips, biscuits, and many convenience foods. Furthermore, it is used in vitamins, antacids, and prescription drugs in the pharmaceutical industry.
FD&C Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow) - Fruit Snacks, Pickles, Relish, Hot Sauce. Mayonnaise, Salad Dressings. Cheese Products. Dried Meal Starters. Cereals, Crackers. Personal Care Products: Hand soaps, shampoos, body wash, and toothpaste may also contain Yellow No. 6.
According to FDA Commissioner Makary, many of these will be eliminated from US Foods by the end of 2026. Furthermore, it is now Federal policy that the FDA will remove all petroleum-based food dyes from the US Food supply.
The FDA will also authorize four naturally occurring food dyes and will accelerate the introduction of new natural dyes.
Although it has long been known that many of these chemicals, alone or in combination with other risk factors, are associated with various forms of cancer, a seminal meta-analysis study was published during April 2022 in the peer-reviewed academic journal “Environmental Health” summarizing data concerning the contribution of many of these synthetic dyes on the clinical syndrome known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Childhood chronic diseases and ADHD in particular are a specific focus of the MAHA commission established by President Trump. So it should come as no surprise that the elimination of these food additives would be a priority for this administration.
“Potential impacts of synthetic food dyes on activity and attention in children: a review of the human and animal evidence”
Specifically analyzed were the following food additive dyes:
The following is the cautiously worded abstract summary and conclusions from this seminal paper.
Abstract: Concern that synthetic food dyes may impact behavior in children prompted a
Susceptible children |