Free Republic

The FDA today has issued an order today that will ban Red No. 3 from food products and ingested drugs. The dye, which was approved to use in 1907, has been banned in cosmetics and topical drugs since 1990 over evidence that it can cause cancer. Its use in food is already banned or restricted in Australia, Japan and countries in the EU. Red No. 3. is commonly found in candy, gum, and cookies, including Brach’s candy corn, Betty Crocker sprinkles, and strawberry Ensure. Food manufacturers will have until January 15, 2027 to remove it from all products, while makers...

Forty-five years ago this week, ...1959, most Americans celebrated Thanksgiving sans cranberry sauce. Earlier that month, a government health official had announced that traces of the weed killer aminotriazole — a chemical that caused cancer in rodents — had been found in the cranberry crop. The spokesman urged housewives to "be on the safe side" and refrain from buying cranberries because the rodent data suggested that the "contaminated" cranberries could pose a human cancer risk. There was never any real health risk. The cranberry scare of 1959 marked the beginning of a modern wave of "chemical phobia" and a government...