FDA Head: American Children Are ‘Living in a Toxic Soup of Synthetic Chemicals’
Without an outright ban on six petrol-based synthetic colors, will the food industry finally clean up its act? If we go by the past, that seems iffy at best.
April 22 was a big day for American consumers. That was when it was announced at a press conference that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration intends to “take action” to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes in foods and drugs.
It was also when the new FDA Commissioner, Dr. Martin Makary, confirmed something that many advocates for healthy food have long believed—namely, that “For the last 50 years American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals.”
Dr. Makary didn’t stop there. He also went so far as to acknowledge in that conference that the past half-century has seen industry “running one of the largest uncontrolled scientific experiments in the world on our nation’s children without their consent.”
That statement, finally recognizing the hold Big Food has maintained over federal watchdogs who have looked the other way as our nation’s grocery shelves were filled with toxic substances, was unprecedented by a federal official -- and a sign of significant transformation taking place within the agency.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the recently minted head of Health and Human Services (an agency that the FDA falls under), joined Makary at the event, stating one of the FDA’s worst-kept secrets — that “industry has cast a dark shadow historically over this agency.”
But will approaching Big Food in a “friendly way,” as Dr. Makary put it, work to get those harmful hues out of our food supply? “They want to do it,” he maintained
That, however, is something we’ve heard before.
Bad days ahead for Big Food
The history of artificial colors has long been colored by controversy. And removing the few that have been previously forbidden has typically taken decades. For example, for the FDA to ditch Violet #1 (used in cakes, candies, and soda) after a Canadian study found it to be a potent carcinogen took no less than 14 years.
Red Dye #3, a likely carcinogen that was prohibited from cosmetics and topical drugs 35 years ago, is still found in food products. Even after it was finally officially banned from food use in January 2025, manufacturers were given until 2028 to stop using it, a timeline the FDA is now requesting Big Food to speed up.
But it’s hardly surprising that so many supposedly “harmless” synthetic hues are otherwise when you consider their origins. Over a century ago, many certified dyes were made from coal tar – a thick, black liquid derived from, you guessed it, coal.
While some coal-tar color derivatives are still around (mostly in cosmetics and hair dyes), the dyes used today are far more likely to come from petroleum extracts (as HHS chief RFK, Jr. said, “If they want to eat petroleum, they can add it themselves at home — they shouldn’t be feeding it to the rest of us”).
Six petroleum-based dyes*, which may also contain measurable amounts of heavy-metal contaminants such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, are currently the subject of what Kennedy calls “an understanding” with industry to remove from the food supply by the end of next year. Two additional colors, which are now in limited usage, will be banned.
‘Industry is making money keeping us sick.’
There is no doubt that this isn’t yesterday's FDA, and it’s hard for Big Food to argue with the concept of improving the health of Americans. Yet, around a decade ago, amid public pressure from consumers and a petition filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest requesting a ban on these petrol-based hues, food companies pledged to remove them all on their own.
It didn’t go well.
For example, Mars, a multinational company that controls over 50 brands ranging from candy to pet food to Uncle Ben’s Rice to Kevin’s Natural Foods and Seeds of Change, promised in 2016 to remove all artificial colors from its food “portfolio” by 2021.
But the only thing it had accomplished by that date was an incoherent statement filled with corporate jargon saying that after years of research, “…we have found that consumer expectations regarding colors in food differ widely across markets and categories. This has motivated us to reevaluate our global intent and seek to identify approaches that are more locally tailored to address these differences.”
Something Mars was able to do, however, was to remove artificial colors from its candies marketed in the EU, where color warning labels are slapped on items that use dyes known to have adverse effects on children -- a policy that has been in effect since 2010.
Campbell’s made a similar promise with lots of fanfare a decade ago, which has since been reduced to a note on its website saying, “We understand that some people try to avoid artificial flavors and colors, and we continue to look at alternative solutions to remove these ingredients from our portfolio.” All synthetic colorings, Campbell’s assures us, “are declared safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”
General Mills and Kellogg’s also joined the bandwagon, vowing to get the synthetic colors out of all their cereals. But to this day, Trix, Lucky Charms, and Froot Loops still glow with synthetic yellows, reds, and blues. Last year, General Mills issued a press release for its Betty Crocker brand hyping “the magic of” Wicked color-changing baking kits that use reds 40 and 3 (the latter, a.k.a. FD&C Red No. 3, being the color banned from cosmetics decades ago and now being fast-tracked to removal by the FDA), yellows 5 and 6, and blue 1.
These synthetic food dyes have a history of research that has associated them with allergic reactions, hyperactivity, attention disorders in kids, migraines, asthma, and cancer, which should be enough to support a ban at the federal level. Some, such as yellow 5, are already banned in Norway and Finland (the latter also banning yellow 6).
Perhaps the current patchwork of state laws, such as California having ordered the removal of six colors from school lunches, along with the resolve of the new regime at HHS, will finally spur Big Food to take decisive action.
Until that happens, if you don’t want to be duped by an “industry (that) is making money keeping us sick,” as Secretary Kennedy put it, think of what you and your family eat as your personal food chain -- and safeguard it accordingly.
*The FDA is asking the food industry to remove the following six synthetic colors by the end of next year:
· FD&C Green No. 3,
· FD&C Red No. 40,
· FD&C Yellow No. 5,
· FD&C Yellow No. 6,
· FD&C Blue No. 1, and,
· FD&C Blue No. 2
The process to revoke authorization for the lesser-used Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B will start shortly. The FDA has also asked the food industry to get rid of FD&C Red No. 3 ahead of the 2028 deadline.
Color me disappointed....
Very interesting! I didn't know about those past promises.