Peeps, Tylenol, Cheeetos, Vyvanse, and Skittles—from our favorite drugs to essential drugs—are pervasive almost everywhere in our American consumption.
In California, that will all end soon when Governor Gavin Newsom signs a bill known as the California Food Safety Act that bans the toxic dye along with three other additives from food products and drugs.
We spoke with Aydin Nazmi, a Professor of Food Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He offers additional insights into the effects of Red Dye 3 and other banned additives on our health as Americans.
Aydin Nazmi: Exposures can have lifelong effects, so really bring these key stages of development—you know, the early periods of growth, adolescence, puberty, and staying in toxins—to a minimum, especially through the food supply. Due to pressure from advocacy groups and consumer groups, many companies have begun to remove red dye number three.
Back in the 1990s, researchers found that long-term and repeated exposure to Red Dye 3 caused thyroid cancer in animals tested in the laboratory. After this discovery, the pigment was banned from beauty and cosmetic products throughout the US, but it has remained a staple in American diets for the past thirty years.
Jensen Jose: For the nuances of the law, it is more difficult for them to make changes in their food regulations than in their cosmetic regulations, because the cosmetic regulations are temporary, reviewed temporarily, or approved temporarily where color additive regulations are not provisional at the time. time, I believed.
Jensen Jose serves as Regulatory Counsel at the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC
Jose: It’s good that California has decided to continue and not wait for the FDA, as you know; it seems like 30 years is enough time.
Companies that produce and distribute food within California have until January 2027 to comply with the new regulations.
