Last week, the Food and Drug Administration banned Red Dye No. 3—a coloring found lurking in everything from pastries to pills. Regulators banned it on the grounds that several studies have shown a worrying tendency for the dye to cause thyroid cancer in animals. Since 1990, it has been prohibited for use in cosmetics, but it has somehow persisted in food and medicine.
Relieved by the ban? Don’t be. Red Dye No. 3 is set to be replaced by. . . Red Dye No. 40, which in Europe comes with the unencouraging warning label: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
It’s hard to shake the feeling that synthetic dyes are just the tip of a very large and very troubling iceberg.
