Opposition calls for local ban on red dye No. 3

By Kimone Witter    

 

The opposition has called for a local ban on Red Dye Number 3 which studies have shown links to cancer in animals.

 

Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration banned the use of the dye in food, beverages and ingested drugs.

 

A synthetic colour additive made from petroleum, red dye Number 3 is used to give foods and beverages a bright cherry-red colour.

 

Junior Shadow Spokesperson for Health and Wellness Jesse Clarke says while there is no evidence of a threat to humans, the Ministry of Health should give consideration to banning the use of the dye.

 

"Because it's going to have a far-reaching impact because not only the United States will not be accepting products leaving Jamaica to the United States being exported there that have this particular dye in it. So we need to now be advising our population, our manufacturers as well to move away from using that dye.

 

"In this States they are giving the manufacturers a two-year limit in which they should stop using the dye. But we want to move ahead and be proactive and see how quickly we can get that dye off our market and products using that dye out of our market. That will also protect us from our market being flooded with products that will be banned in the United States," said the junior opposition spokesman. 

 

Mr. Clarke said there are less harmful alternatives that manufacturers can use in their products. 

 

"Some products have been using red dye number 40 as a substitute for it, but that is also a synthetic dye and we don't know it later on there are going to be studies showing that that dye also has a problem. So what I would suggest is that our manufacturers and our population make the shift towards using more organic or more natural colourings for their food products to avoid any issues you can have with these synthetic dyes that we use in our products," he suggested.