/oss/taxonomy/term/2670/all en /oss/article/health-science-science-everywhere-you-asked/why-were-red-mms-eliminated-should-i-be-concerned <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=4365"><img alt="" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/03/MMs-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a> Much to the public’s dismay, the Mars and Murray Company stopped production of red M&Ms because of a health scare concerning Red Dye Number 2, which at the time was the most common red food dye in use. This dye was never used in M&Ms but the company decided to withdraw the red candies “to avoid consumer confusion and concern.” It isn’t clear exactly what confusion Mars and Murray was worried about since the Food and Drug Administration banned Red Dye Number 2 in January of 1976. So if red M&Ms had stayed on the market, it would have clearly meant that the suspect dye was not used. Perhaps the Company was concerned that people might think it was using an illegal dye. The story becomes even more bizarre when the evidence upon which Red Dye Number 2 was banned is examined. In the early 1970s there were a couple of small, poorly carried out Soviet studies that suggested the dye caused thyroid tumours in male rats and stillbirths and deformities in females. <a href="/oss/why-were-red-mms-eliminated-should-i-be-concerned/">Read more</a></p> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:09:17 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1887 at /oss