Why it took 37 years for the U.S. to ban Red №3
👋 Welcome back
Issue #252: letting go of assumptions + self-imposed urgency
By Harris Sockel
Candy corn. Pez. Maraschino cherries. Gummy worms…
All delicious… and all typically contain Red Dye №3, aka erythrosine (via ancient Greek eruthrós, or “red”). The dye was banned by the FDA last week, though it’s been off shelves in California since last fall. Anything made with the dye before last week, though, can still be sold — and manufacturers have two years to find alternative sources of red (or cut the color entirely).
The FDA based its decision on a study from 37 years ago which found that rats who consume the dye are more likely to develop thyroid tumors than those who don’t. Obvious question: Why the gigantic delay? Because the FDA wasn’t petitioned to review this research until 2022, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest — an advocacy group best-known for putting ingredient and calorie labels on food — filed a petition. Three years later, after the petition wound its way through the FDA’s public comment and review process, the ban is here.
Dr. Jess Steier, a public health scientist who’s unpacked raw milk’s health effects and research around child vaccination, breaks down what we do and don’t know about the safety of food dyes. Essentially, rats developed tumors due to a “hormone mechanism specific to male rats that doesn’t exist in humans” and no other animal studies have discovered any cancerous effects of these dyes. Yet, a one-line clause in a 1958 amendment to FDA law requires the agency to ban any ingredient shown to cause cancer in humans or animals. It’s an “abundance of caution” situation. As Steier explains, “the ban is based on a legal requirement” from a time in history when analytical chemistry was way less sophisticated, it’s not based on new or particularly consequential safety concerns. TL;DR: You don’t need to worry (that much) about all the red dye you or your kids may have been consuming pre-last week.
My side quest, while researching all this: What about Red Dye №1 and №2? Who are they and where did they go? Well, Red №2 was banned in 1976 after the FDA could not rule out its link to cancer. And Red №1 was banned in 1960 for the same reason.
❓ My open tabs this morning…
- A prompt to spark new perspectives: What if you removed your biggest assumption instead of your biggest constraint? (David Loewen)
- In 1981, Ronald Reagan chose to move his inauguration from the White House’s East portico to its West portico so he could face the National Mall and welcome a larger crowd — every inauguration since 1981 has followed suit. Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985 was also the last to be held indoors for cold and wet weather, before Monday’s. (Betsy Denson)
- Educator Torshie Torto, in Ghana, uses the Socratic method to dispel long-held homophobia and bigoted beliefs among her students: “My goal wasn’t to make them accept anything. I wanted them to question the hatred of gay people, not their existence.”
🔥 Some practical wisdom
“Do things fast. Things don’t actually take much time (as measured by a stopwatch); resistance/procrastination does. ‘Slow is fake.’ If no urgency exists, impose some.” — Nabeel Qureshi
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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Rose Gillis
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