QUADdemic + Ban on Red Food Dye No. 3

Three Things Thursday

Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week. This week the fires in California are still raging and here in the northeast, we’re facing freezing temperatures and more snow. Additionally, we are in the thick of respiratory virus season. Currently —

Image source.

A lot of people are visiting the ER because they are sick with an upper respiratory virus and our wastewater is full of viral particles. Additionally, norovirus continues to plague communities across the country.

At present, we are in the middle of a QUADdemic (COVID, flu, RSV, and norovirus).

The number of norovirus cases is increasing exponentially.

Image source.

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Two-thirds of this week’s news focuses on QUADdemic. The last story is about the late-breaking news that the FDA has decided to ban red food dye (No. 3).

Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.

Respiratory Virus Updates & Reminders

There is a lot of sickness out there — flu, COVID, and RSV.

This morning, the CDC issued a Health Alert “recommending a shortened timeline for subtyping all influenza A specimens among hospitalized patients and increasing efforts at clinical laboratories to identify non-seasonal influenza… This approach can help prevent delays in identifying human infections with avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses.”

Those of us in medicine and public health are actively tracking the number of cases and looking to sequence individuals who test positive for influenza A — to determine if they have H5N1 or another strain of the virus.

If you are experiencing symptoms of a respiratory virus, such as fever, sore throat, cough, runny nose, headache, body aches, or pink eyes, please —

1. Stay home.

   As we are facing so much illness, there is no such thing as just a sore throat or just a little cough. A cough, sore throat, headache, fever, and runny nose are all symptoms of the diseases that spread from person to person. Regardless of what virus is causing your symptoms, it is best to stay home until you have been symptom-free (without medication) for at least 48 hours.

2. Practice proper hygiene.

   To prevent the spread of these diseases, we all need to practice sneezing and coughing into our elbows (to prevent droplets from landing on surfaces). We also need to properly wash our hands and avoid putting our hands near our eyes, nose, and mouth.

Hand Sanitizer is NOT Enough to Prevent Norovirus

Norovirus is highly contagious.

The virus spreads through fecal-oral contact or vomit-oral contact. Gross, I know.

According to Dr. Craig Wilen, associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine —

“Viral particles (in feces or vomit) can contaminate food, water, and surfaces that can then go on to infect other people. Essentially, viral particles from feces or vomit get onto someone's hand or land on a surface, such as kitchen countertops or toilet handles, which someone else then touches. Having explosive vomiting or diarrhea — or not closing the lid on the toilet when flushing — disperses the particles even further.”

Using hand sanitizer will NOT protect you from contracting norovirus.

In order to prevent norovirus —

• Wash your hands with soap & water (for at least 20 seconds).

• Wash your hands frequently, especially before eating.

• Keep your hands away from your mouth (no nail biting).

Image credit: SciBabe

Ban on Red Food Dye No. 3

Yesterday the FDA announced it has revoked the authorization for the use of Red Dye No. 3 (also known as FD&C Red No. 3, Red 3, or erythrosine), which is a synthetic food dye that gives foods and drinks a bright, cherry-red color (think: maraschino cherries).

Companies that are currently using Red Dye No. 3 have until January 15, 2027 to remove the dye from food products, and January 18, 2028 to remove it from drugs (for example cough syrups and gummy vitamins). FDA’s decision to ban Red Dye No. 3 was NOT triggered by new safety concerns or new evidence that it is harmful to human health. The ban is a result of a petition organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest that invoked the Delany Clause.

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, they —

“petitioned the FDA in 2022 to ban Red 3 from food, dietary supplements, and drugs based on long-established evidence that the dye causes thyroid cancer when consumed by animals. The petition highlighted how FDA had previously rejected arguments by the food industry that Red 3 was only dangerous after it exceeded a certain threshold, an assertion which has never been backed up with evidence.”

The Delaney Clause, enacted in 1960 as part of the Color Additives Amendment to the Food, Drug, & Cosmetics Act, prohibits FDA authorization of a food additive or color additive if it has been found to induce cancer in humans or animals. As stated in the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s petition, there is evidence that Red Dye No. 3 does cause cancer in rats, who have high levels of exposure. Red Dye No. 3 has not been linked to cancer in humans (yet).

Because of the Delaney Clause, the FDA is required to act/ban Red No. 3 despite the fact that the risk to human health is minimal (based on the information/data available). Removing Red Dye No. 3 is precautionary — given that it harms animals and could harm humans — and removes an unnecessary chemical from the food supply.

Questions? What are you hearing about Red Dye #3?

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1. Click the “Like” button on the posts you enjoy. It’s a small thing, but it helps.

2. Share posts, either on social media or with your friends and families.

3. And stay in touch — what questions do you have? information do you need? concerns are keeping you awake? Let me know and we can discuss them together.

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Epi(demiology) Matters is written by Dr. Becky Dawson, PhD MPH — an epidemiologist, teacher, mom, wife, and dedicated yogi. She is a tenured professor at Allegheny College, Research Director at a community hospital, and an exclusive contributor (all things health & medicine) at Erie News Now (NBC/CBS). Her goal is to create healthy communities for all. She writes Epi Matters — first & foremost because epidemiology does matter (to all of us) and she hopes that each post will help to educate and empower readers to be healthy and create healthy communities.

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