RFK Jr., FDA Commissioner Reveal ‘Petroleum-Based Food Dyes’ Will Be Removed From U.S. Food Supply

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary announced that “petroleum-based food dyes” would be removed from the United States food supply.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Makary spoke about how the scientific community had “conducted a number of studies raising concerns about the correlation between petroleum-based synthetic dyes” and health conditions like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and cancer. Kennedy Jr. also vowed to “get rid of” artificial food dyes.

“Today, the FDA is taking action to remove petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply and from medications,” Makary said. “For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals. The scientific community has conducted a number of studies raising concerns about the correlation between petroleum-based synthetic dyes and several health conditions, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, cancer, genomic disruption, GI issues – as I’ve seen in the hospital, and allergic reactions.”

In a press release from the FDA, it was revealed that the HSS and FDA were announcing “a series of new measures to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes.”

Per the press release, the FDA will establish “a national standard and timeline for the food industry to transition from petrochemical-based dyes to natural alternatives,” and will initiate “the process to revoke authorization for two synthetic food colorings—Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B—within the coming months.”

The FDA will also work with the food industry “to eliminate six remaining synthetic dyes—FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2—from the food supply by the end of next year.”

The FDA will also authorize “four new natural color additives in the coming weeks, while also accelerating the review and approval of others.”

“Other studies have found that artificial colors that create vibrant colors mess with the child’s developing brain, to make ultra-processed foods more attractive, even when the child already feels full,” Makary continued. “These studies have associated food colors directly with obesity and diabetes. While America’s child are sick and suffering, 41 percent of children have at least one health condition, and one-in-five are on medication. The answer is not more Ozempic, more ADHD medication, and more anti-depressants. There’s a role for those medications, but we have to look at underlying root causes.”

During the press conference, Kennedy Jr. spoke about how, when his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, was President, the U.S. “had the healthiest people in the world.”

“When my uncle was President in the 1960s, we had the healthiest people in the world,” Kennedy said. “And, one of the basic assumptions of our country was that because we were robust people, because we were rigorous, because we were tough — we had what my uncle called this beef jerky toughness that was responsible for our country being the land of brave and the home of the free. The greatest industrial power in the world, the wealthiest country. We owned half the wealth on Earth when my uncle was President, and part of that was because of the vigor of our society.”

Kennedy Jr. continued to point out that when his uncle was President, “three percent of American kids had chronic disease,” and added that “today it’s around 60 percent.”

“There was zero spent in this country treating chronic disease when my uncle was President. Today it’s about $1.8 trillion annually — it’s bankrupting our nation,” Kennedy Jr. added. “Seventy-four percent of American kids cannot qualify for military service. How are we going to maintain our global leadership with such a sick population? We have all these autoimmune diseases, these exotic diseases. Again, I never heard of juvenile diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn’s disease, and a hundred others — that were just unknown when I was a kid. I never knew anybody with a peanut allergy, I never knew anybody with a food allergy.”

Kennedy Jr. continued to “commend food companies for” working with them to “achieve this agreement,” and added that if the food companies want to add petroleum-based dyes to their food products, “they ought to add it themselves at home, but they shouldn’t be feeding it to the rest of us without our knowledge or consent.”

“We’re gonna get rid of the dyes, and then one by one, we’re going to get rid of every ingredient and additive in school, in food, that we can legally address,” Kennedy Jr. added.

Breitbart News’s Simon Kent reported in March that Kennedy Jr. had informed food companies that he wanted artificial dyes removed from their food products.