If you blinked during Tuesday’s Health and Human Services Department press conference on the agency’s plans to ban artificial dyes, you may have missed Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. teasing his next target.
Kennedy announced plans to target pharmaceutical additives, signaling he is getting ready to fire his opening salvo against Big Pharma.
A reporter asked, “I’m wondering if there’s any pharmaceutical additives that you’d like to eliminate?” prompting laughter from the audience.
“We’re gonna start on that next,” the HHS secretary replied, offering no further details on his plans.
Kennedy on Tuesday unveiled a plan to eliminate eight artificial food dyes and colorings from the U.S. food supply by the end of next year, committing to collaborate with food companies to ensure a smooth transition and remove these additives from products.
Kennedy, pioneer of the Make America Healthy Again movement, has long criticized Big Pharma, vowing to hold the industry accountable for what he calls rampant corruption and profiteering. Kennedy has accused pharmaceutical giants of manipulating federal agencies like the FDA and seeks to curb direct-to-consumer advertising that he says taints media. Kennedy also plans to scrutinize vaccine safety. He was one of the most outspoke critics of the COVID vaccine and government-instituted lockdowns.
“I just want to urge all of you, it’s not the time to stop; it’s the time to redouble your efforts, because we have them on the run now, and we are going to win this battle,” Kennedy said. “And four years from now, we’re going to have most of these products off the market, or you will know about them when you go to the grocery store.”
ABC News reports:
Federal officials are taking steps to pull the authorization for two rarely used synthetic food colorings — Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B — within the coming months. In addition, the six other petroleum-based dyes that federal health agencies are seeking to eliminate by the end of next year are Green No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1 and Blue No. 2.
The FDA is also taking steps to authorize four new natural color additives, officials announced Tuesday.
The plan, however, is contingent on an “understanding” with major food companies that they will voluntarily remove them to meet consumer demand, Kennedy said Tuesday.
“There’s no need to have a regulation or a statute when companies are volunteering to do it,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said. “We are going to use every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done to the best of our abilities.”
“For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” Makary added.
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