US Bans Red No. 3 Dye in Food and Drugs Over Cancer Risk

The U.S. on Wednesday banned the use of a synthetic food dye that gives some candies, cakes and certain oral medications a cherry-red color, following evidence that the dye causes cancer in laboratory rats.

The ban by the Food and Drug Administration on the Red No. 3 dye in food items comes more than three decades after it was barred in cosmetics.

“Why you would say something can’t be in cosmetics, but you can eat it makes no sense to me. I am very pleased that they finally have done what I think they should have done years ago,” said petitioner Linda Birnbaum, former director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program.

Read more at Reuters.