Trump’s Administration Moves To Ban Artificial Food Dyes

AFP/APP

Washington: President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday announced plans to ban synthetic dyes from the US food supply — a move welcomed by health experts and marking a rare point of bipartisan agreement in an otherwise sharply divided political climate.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. has vowed to overhaul America’s food system under the banner of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, and the push would phase out the eight approved artificial food dyes by the end of 2026.

It builds upon a prohibition on Red Dye 3 by the government of former president Joe Biden but accelerates the timeline and also asks the National Institutes of Health to carry out comprehensive research on how additives impact children’s development.

“For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” Food and Drug Administration commissioner Marty Makary said at a press conference, surrounded by young families and MAHA supporters.

He cited studies linking synthetic dyes to conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), diabetes, cancer, genomic disruption, gastrointestinal issues and more

Kennedy, for his part, called the issue of dyes and additives more generally an “existential” threat.