The Dictatorship

I’m a food scientist. Here’s what RFK Jr. gets (mostly) right about food dye.

Published

1 year ago

April 30, 2025

I’m a food scientist. Here’s what RFK Jr. gets (mostly) right about food dye.

On April 22, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration announced measures designed to phase out all remaining petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the American food supply.

Leading the charge is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pledged to Make America Healthy Again as President Donald Trump’s controversial HHS secretary. “Nobody wants to eat petroleum,” noted Kennedy recently. And petroleum-based food dyes — typically just called synthetic food dyes — are indeed derived from crude oil, the naturally occurring substance formed over millions of years from decaying plants and animals under intense heat and pressure. Part of phasing out these synthetic dyes involves transitioning to natural alternatives and accelerating their review and approval.

This shift reflects growing consumer recognition that our food system needs reform. That’s not a bad thing.

This shift reflects growing consumer recognition that our food system needs reform. That’s not a bad thing. However, real change demands more than simply removing synthetic additives. It requires a fundamental rethinking of how we produce, market and consume food in America — and a commitment to prioritizing public health over company profits.

Currently, only a handful of certified color additives are approved by the FDA to use in food. Under the Delaney Clauseof the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Actthe FDA is prohibited from approving any color additive that has been found to cause cancer in humansoranimals. And the FDA asserts that color additives are safe for consumption when used in accordance with its regulations.

The FDA plans to ban the two rarely used dyes — Citrus Red 2 and Orange B — in the upcoming months while working with the food industry to voluntarily eliminate six commonly used dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3) by the end of next year. The three most popular remaining dyes — Red 40Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 — account for 90% of all food dye consumption in the U.S.

Under the Biden administration, the FDA had already initiated phasing out of Red No. 3. Advocates had argued for years that the dye should be banned because of research linking it to cancer in male rats at high doses.

And there are already efforts underway in various states to cut down or eliminate the dyes.

In October, California became the first state to prohibit school cafeterias from serving foods that contain six commonly used synthetic dyes. The law will go into effect in 2027, requiring manufacturers to replace these dyes with natural alternatives. West Virginia will ban the same dyes from schools this August and from all foods sold in the state in 2028. Utah and Arizona have also enacted similar laws.

There are plenty of reasons to be wary of foods that rely on synthetic dyes. Such products are typically ultraprocessed and high in fat, sugar and sodium. The cumulative effects of repeated exposure over a lifetime aren’t well understood. Additionally, there is limited research on how different additives interact with one another — and with other ingredients in the food matrix — during processing.

The concept of “dosage makes the poison” applies here, as combinations of dyes can complicate the assessment of how much artificial dye is being consumed. But at least some studies have shown worrying impacts on kids.

In the 1960s and the 1970s, U.S. tobacco companies conducted extensive market research with children and found that they preferred red products.

A systematic review of epidemiologic research on synthetic food dyes and neurobehavioral outcomes found a correlation between synthetic food dye exposure and adverse neurobehavioral effects in some children. Furthermore, the review suggested that the FDA’s Acceptable Daily Intake levels for synthetic food dyes may not adequately protect children from behavioral effects. The study also found that children and lower-income populations tend to have higher exposures, highlighting the need to improve access to healthier food options.

Compounding this problem is the fact that children are particularly attracted to colorful snacks. This isn’t a coincidence. In the 1960s and the 1970s, U.S. tobacco companies conducted extensive market research with children and found that they preferred red products. These companies later played a leading role in shaping U.S. food marketing from 1980 to 2001, developing “hyper-palatable foods” that became staples in the American diet.

Given this research and the actions being taken in some states, many U.S. food companies have already been reformulating their products. In 2015, General Mills removed artificial colors from some of its cereals — but it reinstated them two years later following consumer complaints. General Mills now offers schools a lower-sugar, artificial color-free version of Trix cerealcomplying with the new food additive laws in California and West Virginia. Kraft Heinz removed artificial preservatives, flavors and dyes from its signature macaroni and cheese recipe in 2016. To maintain its signature yellow-orange hue, Kraft replaced artificial colorsincluding Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, with natural spices like paprika, annatto and turmeric.

At the same time, “natural” doesn’t automatically mean safer or better. For example, carmine — or the less concentrated cochineal extract — is a widely used natural red dye derived from the dried bodies of female Dactylopius coccus insects. It’s also a known allergen. Because natural colors are categorized as “exempt” from certification requirements, they are subject to less rigorous safety testing compared with synthetic dyes. Natural dyes also may require higher quantities to achieve the same vibrant colors, and they are often significantly more expensive than their synthetic counterparts. As a result, both the dosage of additives and the cost of food products may increase with new formulations.

To truly “Make America Healthy Again,” we must make nutritious foods more accessible and affordable while also reducing the overwhelming presence and consumption of ultraprocessed foods. The overconsumption of these foods is directly linked to all sorts of health problems like weight gain, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, healthy, whole foods remain out of reach for far too many families. Programs like Farm to Schoolwhich introduce students to locally grown produce and promote healthier eating habits, should be protected rather than h alted.

But we must also resist falling into chemophobia — an irrational fear of chemicals — which only fosters unnecessary fear among consumers, makes them more vulnerable to misinformation and distracts from evidence-based solutions. Instead of superficial changes, we must confront the systemic barriers that make healthy eating a privilege rather than a basic human right.

Selina C. Wang

Selina C. Wang is an associate professor in the food science and technology department at the University of California, Davis.

The Dictatorship

Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff

Published

5 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff

Jun. 27, 2026, 9:51 PM EDT

Rep. Julia Letlow won Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary runoff Saturday, defeating former Rep. John Fleming.

Her win comes as a victory for President Donald Trump, who has endorsed her repeatedly throughout the race — including before she was even officially running.

Letlow made history in 2021 when she became the first Republican woman to represent Louisiana in Congress. In that special election, she won the seat that her late husband, Luke Letlow, had won prior to dying of complications related to Covid-19 in December 2020.

Letlow had no political experience prior to running for her late husband’s seat. She holds a doctorate in communication from the University of South Florida and worked as an administrator for Tulane University and the University of Louisiana, according to her LinkedIn page. Nonetheless, she won the special election House race with nearly 65% of the vote.

In Congress, she has served on the appropriations and education committees, and has been a reliably MAGA Republican.

Letlow’s win also comes as a rebuke to Fleming, who loaned himself more than $11 million, according to the Federal Election Commission, and tried running for the same seat in 2016 only to finish in fifth place in the nonpartisan primary. (Letlow did not loan her campaign any money, and took in more than $5.35 million compared to Fleming’s more than $12.1 million, FEC filings show.)

Trump has played a key role in the race. In addition to backing Letlow early on, the president also helped tank Republican incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy’s re-election campaign in last month’s primary, based on the senator’s record of bucking his party and voting in favor of Trump’s second impeachment. In the primaryLetlow earned nearly 45% of the vote, giving her a healthy lead over both Fleming, who received about 28% of the vote, and Cassidy, who earned nearly 25%.

Ahead of Saturday’s runoff, polling showed Letlow and Fleming in a close race, with Letlow retaining a small lead in several polls.

Letlow will now proceed to the November general election to face off against the Democratic nominee, farmer Jamie Davis, who came out on top in tonight’s Democratic primary runoff.

The state has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, when Mary Landrieu won her last term in office.

Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.

The Dictatorship

‘Horrifying’: Pulte’s choice for top spy aide stokes fears of Trump vote tampering

Published

5 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

‘Horrifying’: Pulte’s choice for top spy aide stokes fears of Trump vote tampering

Jun. 28, 2026, 1:36 PM EDT

Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligencehas stirred fear by choosing as his chief of staff a GOP election lawyer who oversaw a poll watching program that included Jack Posobiec and other conservative conspiracy theorists. The lawyer, Christina Norton, also appears to have no experience working in the intelligence community.

“It is horrifying,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official told MS NOW Saturday. “Not only does Norton have absolutely no background, experience or expertise in national security or intelligence, but her principal qualifications appear to be loyalty to Pulte and an embrace of absurd election-interference conspiracies.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has been a vocal critic of Pulte, also raised concerns about election integrity on Sunday while taking shots at the director of national intelligence and the office itself.

“We should eliminate the DNI, and we should eliminate Pulte from the DNI until that happens,” he said on BLN, adding, “I am concerned that we’re gonna continue to cast doubt on elections in November and erode what has been a 250-year tradition of a peaceful transition of power.”

Pulte’s choice of Norton is also likely to increase concerns among Democrats that President Donald Trump intends to use the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to interfere in the midterm elections. Pulte, a loyalist with no intelligence experience, has used his current position as head of federal mortgage agencies to refer political rivals of the president for federal criminal prosecution.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told MS NOW on Sunday that the choice “just confirms” that the “only job qualification is absolute political loyalty and devotion to Donald Trump.” But he expressed faith in the judicial system during an appearance on “The Weekend,” noting that “right now we have federal courts across the land that are rejecting their various attempts to take over the election process. Nine different federal courts have rejected the claim that the president, by executive order, can compel the states in the union to turn over all of their voter lists to Donald Trump and to the White House.”

The New York Times first reported Norton’s appointment.

The former senior intelligence official, who requested anonymity due to concerns of retaliation, told MS NOW the choice also “signals as clearly as could be that Pulte has been put at ODNI to misuse the awesome power of the U.S. intelligence community to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections.”

Norton, reached by MS NOW by telephone, declined to comment and referred questions to an ODNI spokesperson. The spokesperson declined to comment on Norton but defended Pulte’s tenure.

“Acting Director Pulte and his team are focused on carrying out President Trump’s national security priorities while faithfully executing ODNI’s statutory mission,” the spokesperson told MS NOW. “We are leading the Intelligence Community to provide President Trump with elite, apolitical intelligence that keeps America safe.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, said his objection to Pulte is “that he used personal information to target a political enemy of the president,” a reference to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“You should not be using the force of government to crash upon somebody just because the person in charge does not like them or finds them inconvenient. The fact that Bill did that is disqualifying for someone to be the director of national intelligence,” Cassidy said.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Friday that Congress would ensure that the ODNI under Pulte will “report on legitimate foreign threats to elections, not Donald Trump’s imaginary ones.”

Himes warned that, “Trump was explicit when he appointed Bill Pulte to a job he had no qualifications for that he had elections in mind.”

Trump has said in interviews with the news media that he would like to see Pulte shrink the size of the ODNI and investigate election fraud. Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, participated in investigations in Georgia and Puerto Rico to find proof of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Democrats and some former intelligence officials say they worry that Pulte may try to falsely claim that his office has found evidence that foreign governments are secretly funding Democratic candidates in the midterms.

Pulte could falsely claim foreign actors have hacked U.S. voting machines, they say, and altered vote totals in favor of Democrats during the midterms. Or Trump could instruct Pulte to be present if FBI agents seize ballots and election records in November as they did earlier this year in Fulton County, Georgia.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned in a statement on Friday that Pulte should not use his position to spread Trump’s false election conspiracy theories.

“The mission of ODNI is to identify and counter foreign threats, not to import election denialism into the Intelligence Community,” Warner said. “Americans have every reason to fear that this administration is once again eroding the wall between our intelligence agencies and domestic elections.”

David Rohde is the senior national security reporter for MS NOW and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Previously he was the senior executive editor for national security and law for NBC News.

The Dictatorship

In Springfield, Ohio, Trump’s rhetoric becomes a grim reality

Published

5 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In Springfield, Ohio, Trump’s rhetoric becomes a grim reality

Jun. 27, 2026, 4:07 PM EDT

Having lived with Donald Trump’s infamous and baseless insult against them — “they’re eating the dogs … they’re eating the cats” — Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are bracing for a far bigger injury.

More than 10,000 Haitians across Ohio and hundreds of thousands more around the country who had Temporary Protected Status now face the imminent prospect of deportation. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can halt those legal protections for Haitians and Syrians and resume forcing them to leave.

Justice Samuel Alito’s opinionfor the court’s Republican-appointed majority curbed the power of courts to review government decisions to terminate protections under the TPS program.

“They side with him on everything that he says or everything that he does, which means there is no check and balance,” said Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian TPS holder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, a town Trump catapulted into a maelstrom of misinformation about immigrants when he was running to retake the White House in 2024.

“The president has that freeway in front of him to do whatever he wants to do, unfortunately, and most of the time to a minority group of people,” added Dorsainvil, who has lived in the United States since 2020.

In a country rife with political and economic instability, Haitians returning from the U.S. are in danger of being killed or kidnapped, said Dorsainvil’s colleague at the Haitian Support Center, Rose Thamar Joseph.

“There is this perception in Haiti that if you are living here in the United States, you have money, so you are living your good life, so sending people back to Haiti will put them in real danger,” Joseph said.

Staying in the U.S. without legal status creates a different crisis.

“We received calls this morning from people saying that, unfortunately, starting on July 1, they won’t be able to go to work anymore,” Joseph said Friday.

Joseph predicted that families would be separated during the deportation process.

“We know that there will be separation,” she said. “A lot of those parents with TPS … they have kids who were born in the United States, so we know that it will happen, not for everybody, not for all the families, but it will happen,” she said.

The oncoming nightmare for the Haitian community in Springfield was, in many ways, predictable after Trump notoriously targeted them on the debate stage against then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall of 2024.

“They are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They’re eating – they are eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said without a shred of evidence, greatly amplifying an unfounded rumor that had been confined to smaller corners of social media.

That rhetoric continued Trump’s track record of racist languageparticularly when it comes to immigration, including during his first White House stint when he referred during his first to Haiti and other majority non-white nations as “shithole” countries.

Dorsainvil argued that the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday proved his beliefs are institutionalized, calling it “a validation of all those bad rhetorics of the president against us.”

Asked by MS NOW if those with TPS should expect to be deported, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, “Well, of course. If you no longer have status in this country, then you’re supposed to be deported.”

Miller, the architect of the administration’s immigration policy, went on to single out the Haitian population by name.

But the outcry against the court’s ruling blurs party lines in Ohio.

“Changing the immigration status of these individuals is not in the best interest of the United States nor Ohio,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said.

Springfield’s Republican mayorRob Rue, has denounced Trump’s misinformation about his community as dangerous from the start.

“Many of the individuals affected by this decision are our neighbors, coworkers, business owners, taxpayers, and parents,” Rue said in a statement after the ruling came down. “They contribute to our local economy, support our schools, strengthen our neighborhoods, and have become part of the fabric of Springfield.”

Alex Tabet is a reporter for MS NOW.