There's new pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to take action on the synthetic food coloring, red No. 3, after California passed a law to ban it last week.
California became the first state to ban four food additives, including red No. 3, and public health advocates are pushing to remove the dye from the food supply nationwide. "I think the passage of the bill in California creates undeniable pressure on the FDA," says Dr. Peter Lurie, president and executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
His group, joined by other consumer advocacy groups including Public Interest Research Group and Consumer Federation of America, filed a petition last October with the FDA to ban the use of red No. 3. Lurie says he thinks the action in California will "make it more likely that they grant our petition."
