It is illegal to use the carcinogenic color additive Red 3 in cosmetics such as lipstick or blush, or in pharmaceuticals that are applied externally. However, that chemical is present in the variety of Candy corns, Nerds, Peeps, Pez, SweeTarts, cakes, and snacks, including numerous seasonal Halloween products.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest, together with 23 others has formally requested that the Food and Drug Administration remove Red 3 from the list of permitted color additives in foods, nutritional supplements, and oral medicines.

Since the early 1980s, the FDA had evidence that Red 3 caused cancer in test animals. As a result, the agency banned the use of the chemical in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals intended for external application in 1990. FDA also said in 1990 that it will take action to prohibit its usage in supplements, swallowed medications, and food but no action was ever taken. Halloween has never been the healthiest holiday, but few parents would think that the FDA allows a carcinogen dye to be used as a regular ingredient in candy, according to CSPI consultant. Fewer still believe that the FDA bans this carcinogen in cosmetics but allows it in food.

Red 3 is still widely used by the food industry despite the government’s finding that it causes cancer. A search of the Environmental Working Group’s Food Scores database yielded 2,876 brand-name food products containing Red 3—including hundreds of foods manufactured by the country’s largest food firms. More than 100 different candies containing the dye are sold by the candy business Brach’s alone. Along with Pez and Peeps, Red 3 can also be found in various versions of Fruit by the Foot, Entenmann’s Little Bites, Dubble Bubble gum, and Hostess’ Ding Dongs.

Red 3 is used in various house-brand products at Albertsons, Kroger, Meijer, Target, and Walmart. Red 3 is included in a variety of non-candy items, like Betty Crocker’s Loaded Mashed Potatoes, which one might assume wouldn’t require artificial coloring. And, in some cases, Red 3 can be used to simulate the presence of a desirable ingredient: while Vigo Saffron Yellow Rice contains some of the world’s most costly saffron, at least some of its color comes from Red 3. Even the Ready-to-Drink Strawberry Shake from PediaSure Grow & Gain Kids has Red 3—but no strawberries.

Long-term animal feeding studies demonstrate that Red 3 induces thyroid adenomas and carcinomas. It is assumed that if a drug causes cancer in animals, it will also cause cancer in people. The Delaney Clause, which forbids the approval of any food or colour additive if it is proven to cause cancer in humans or animals, was incorporated in amendments to the nation’s food laws passed in 1958 and 1960. The FDA is legally need to remove Red 3 from the list, according to the petition submitted by CSPI and many organizations and scientists.

It’s ridiculous that the Food and Drug Administration has known since the 1980s that Red 3 has the potential to cause cancer, but continues to allow it to be used in the food we consume, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at EWG. If the findings were strong enough to ban Red 3 in cosmetics and external drugs 30 years ago, they are certainly good enough to ban it now in foods, oral drugs, and dietary supplements.

The CSPI advises people to avoid all numerical dyes, including Yellow 5 and Red 40. Concerns have grown about the negative effects of Red 3 on children’s behaviour, in addition to the risk of cancer. The CSPI requested that the FDA also ban them from the food supply in 2008. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in California has proven that some children experience neurobehavioral issues as a result of those dyes.

More than 200,000 pounds of Red 3 were utilised by the pharmaceutical and food industries in just 2021. According to Lurie, the main use of food dyes is typically to make junk food look more appetising, especially to children, or to deceive parents into thinking a product contains a nutritious fruit, like strawberries.

The petition was also signed by Lefferts, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, Chef Ann Foundation, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, defend our Health, Feingold Association, Food & Water Watch, Healthy Babies Bright Futures, Life Time Foundation, Moms Rising, Prevention Institute, Public Citizen, Public Health Institute, and Public Interest Research. Linda S. Birnbaum, a former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, as well as paediatrician and epidemiologist Philip J. Landrigan of Boston College, who oversees the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good and the Global Observatory on Planetary Health, are among the scientists who have signed the petition.

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