Fox News Senior Medical Analyst Dr. Mark Siegel discusses FDA crackdown on food dyes, big food companies facing lawsuits for marketing 'addictive' foods to children and Eli Lilly for testing obesity drugs to treat addiction , checks.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman criticized the issue Food and Drug Administration (FDA) This week, it said the agency took too long to ban No. 3 Red from the U.S. food supply.
“How many years have so many children and adults been exposed to this dangerous poison and @US_FDA has done nothing?” Ackman posted X on Thursday.
He speculated that the incoming Trump administration had moved the needle, telling followers that the FDA would “finally decide to do its job” days before President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
FDA Bans Artificial Red Dye: What It Means for Consumers
Ackman also argued that Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, “need to clean house at the FDA.”
“We also need to understand how the food industry pressured the FDA to allow them to poison the American people,” Ackman continued.
However, the federal agency has stated that any claim that the use of FD&C Red No.
However, the FDA issued an order on Wednesday to revoke the license to use Red No. 3 — also known as erythrosine, which produces the bright, cherry-red color — in food and pharmaceuticals.
The decision follows a petition that, under a law known as the Delany Clause, requires the FDA to ban the color additive in foods and drugs at the federal level because it has been shown that It causes cancer in animals.
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This color is mainly used in a wide variety of food products such as candies, cakes and cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frostings and icings, as well as certain medicinals. However, for more than three decades, it has been banned from cosmetics and topical medications after data showed it was linked. with animal carcinogenesis
The FDA said male lab rats developed cancer in two different studies after “exposure to high levels of FD&C Red No. 3 due to a rat-specific hormonal mechanism.”
Federal officials said the way Red No. 3 causes cancer in male mice does not occur in humans, and human exposure levels to the artificial dye are typically much lower than those that cause the effects shown in male mice.
The FDA continued: “Studies in animals and humans have not shown these effects; Claims that the use of FD&C Red No.
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Moving forward, any manufacturer using the color in food and consumer drugs will have until January 15, 2027 or January 18, 2028, respectively, to reformulate their products.
According to the FDA, this means that consumers can still see it as an ingredient in a food or drug product on the market from the listed market dates if the product was manufactured before the effective date.