Food Industry Says Dyes are Safe | Dr. Stephanie Coxon

By Dr. Stephanie Coxon

Does your child eat and then run across the room like a banshee serenading its warning of near death approaching in a neurological tailspin? Could it be related to what said child just ate? Across the nation, consumers and legislators are finally beginning to speak out and take action in defiance of the industrial food complex that has hidden behind big money and corruption for years.  With Robert Kennedy, Jr at the helm of the HHS, it seems that people are becoming bolder and more aware.  States across the country have begun to introduce and pass legislation that protects its citizens from the long list of untested chemicals or barely tested food chemicals that are veiled behind the guise of “proprietary” information. 

Recently, I found myself sitting in a Pennsylvania House hearing, listening to the panelists make their arguments, it is reminiscent of the 1980s big tobacco telling everyone that the science shows cigarettes to be safe with some added benefits of the calming your nerves.  Instead, this time, the big food guys are making the argument that a “patchwork” regulatory system with the states in control would be too harmful for businesses to implement. Basically, the profit is more important than the children it harms as insinuated by Aaron Riggleman from the PA Chamber of Business and Industry, one of the panel testifiers.  Food industry’s strongest argument was declaring the other independent testimonies were false; with little to no evidence to back it. But, let’s get into the specifics. 

Divided up between two panels, the first panel was derived of chemists, doctors, and organizations in support of changing the current food served to the children in schools, while the second panel encompassed the color manufacturers, government affairs, and the confectioners association. 

Another big food person, Jennifer Gardner from the National Confectioners Association, opened her testimony indicating the “prescriptive new state requirements for food manufacturers that seek to undermine the science-based authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would fundamentally disrupt our national regulatory framework for food safety.”  The bigger question is who actually still trusts the FDA, at this point and what is their true authority (a whole other article for the future)?  As one committee member pointed out, red dye #3 was banned for cosmetics in the 1990s and only became banned in food industry in 2025.   However, she feels that even ensuring labels as warnings for substances like BHA or synthetic food dyes would create burdens for the manufacturers without “meaningful public benefits.”  She furthered her comment by saying, “there was no definitive conclusion that synthetic food dyes trigger behavioral response in children.” Clearly, she has not met any children.  And just in case there was any doubt about the dyes, Sarah Cordrea from the International Association of Color Manufacturers assured everyone that the colors are safe because her child is allowed to consume them.  Yes, Sarah, let’s drink synthetic stuff by the gallons and declare it safe… a little DDT anyone?  But, hey, Sarah’s kid is drinking it, so your kids should as well.  The head of McDonalds should have been on the panel with the mantra; health is what we care about. McDonalds chicken nuggets are 57% fat, petroleum preservatives, with a side of the very same silicone found in breast implants (and let us not forget the pink slime).  This is the stuff the industrial food complex wants to protect… eat at your own risk. In case you were not sure why food dyes are necessary, Cordrea was nice enough to lay it out. “During processing the naturally occurring color in foods is often lost making otherwise nutritious food unappealing to consumers.”  Personally, I didn’t realize fruit loops was nutritionally sound.  She went on to say, “Research has consistently shown that if food products do not have the color that consumers expect, people will not eat them.”  Essentially, she called every consumer remarkedly stupid.   We can equate this to Pablo Escobars position he took on the drug trade; he was simply giving Americans the drugs that they wanted. As part of her testimony, she also assured legislators that the “FDA confirmed that all exposure estimates for FD&C color additives are well below the acceptable intake levels established by FDA [in published studies].”  The same institution that told the world that covid vaccines were safe and sound attempting to hide the actual data for 75 years so that no one would know the extensive harm the shots were doing to people… yes, same institution we are told to trust.  Thanks, Sarah. 

Looking at other, more independent testimony, let’s break down what is actually happening in American society under the trusted FDA’s guidance.  First and foremost, recent documents have shown how big tobacco took over the food industry to create addictive products directed at children just like the camel cigarettes of the 1980s.  They are creating chemical concoctions with ingredients that consumers would be unable to obtain in their own kitchens. There are over 10,000 synthetic chemicals within our food supply creating ultra processed foods (UPF) that account for 67% of children’s caloric intake. The consequence of the rogue food industry partnering with the FDA has led to an obesity rate that is currently over 40%. According to Alan Bullington, an attorney with FoodFight USA, 60% of Americans have been diagnosed with a minimum of one chronic disease (if not more) along with type 2 diabetes doubling over the last two decades; a completely preventable disease. He went on to state that “more than 78% of our eligible population cannot meet the minimum physical requirements for military service.”  Anyone concerned with WWIII and our ability to defend ourselves as a country?  We certainly don’t see these numbers in other parts of the world.  As pointed out by Dr. Meagan Grega, the US spends around $4.9 trillion a year on healthcare (one of the largest) and yet have “epidemic levels of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, dementia, and other chronic diseases.”  Essentially, we have a life span less than 7.5 years as the longest life span country, Japan.  And they are not spending even close to the same amount of money we are.

As Scott Faber from the EWG pointed out, the FDA has not reviewed these dyes since the 1980s (some since the 1960s); long before science has caught up with toxicological studies and its impacts on the neurological system. Along with the lack of information, there is no plan to reassess the safety.  Without the states stepping in, the FDA along with the food industry will continue to poison Americans.  Pennsylvania is lagging in its fight. Virginia, West Virginia, California, Utah and Arizona have all started to protect their constituents by banning these dyes from school lunch programs, which 20 other states following suit.  If you are in Pennsylvania, follow HB1132, call your legislator, and demand safe foods for the kids.  If you are in another state, look up what your state is doing. After all, if the kid’s brains are operating with a chemical concoction concussion, how are they supposed to learn?

Bottom line: if your kid acts like a banshee and is twirling around the room in a rock star screaming fit, perhaps skip the school lunch, start packing your own, and read EVERY ingredient.