Banned additives

The food and chemical industries have said for decades that all food additives are well tested and safe. And most additives are safe. However, the history of food additives is riddled with additives that, after many years of use, were found to pose health risks. Those listed below have been banned.

History shows us that we should take the food industry's assurances with a grain of salt. That's why CSPI reviews the science independently before making a determination of safety.

See Chemical Cuisine for our safety ratings of commonly used food additives.

Key

Value: Banned

Banned

Additive	Rating	Purpose	Origin	Banned year	Problem
Value: undefinedAgene (nitrogen trichloride)	Banned	Flour bleaching and aging agent	Synthetic	1949	Dogs that ate bread made from treated flour suffered epileptic-like fits; the toxic agent was methionine sulfoxime.
Value: undefinedButter yellow	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1919	Toxic, later found to cause liver cancer.
Value: undefinedGreen 1	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1965	Liver cancer
Value: undefinedGreen 2	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1965	Insufficient economic importance to be tested
Value: undefinedOrange 1	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1956	Organ damage
Value: undefinedOrange 2	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1960	Organ damage
Value: undefinedOrange B	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1978 (ban never finalized)	Contained low levels of a cancer-causing contaminant. Orange B was used only in sausage casings; no longer used.
Value: undefinedRed 1	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1961	Liver cancer
Value: undefinedRed 2	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1976	Possible carcinogen
Value: undefinedRed 4	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1976	High levels damaged adrenal cortex of dog; still allowed in externally applied drugs and cosmetics.
Value: undefinedRed 32	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1956	Damages internal organs, may be a weak carcinogen; continues to be used under name Citrus Red 2 only to color oranges (2 ppm)
Value: undefinedSudan 1	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1919	Toxic, later found to be carcinogenic.
Value: undefinedViolet 1	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1973	Cancer (it had been used to stamp the Department of Agriculture’s inspection mark on beef carcasses).
Value: undefinedYellow 1 & 2	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1959	Intestinal lesions at high dosages.
Value: undefinedYellow 3 & 4	Banned	Artificial coloring	Synthetic	1959	Heart damage at high dosages.
Value: undefinedCinnamyl anthranilate	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	1982	Liver cancer
Value: undefinedCobalt salts	Banned	Stabilizing beer foam	Synthetic	1966	Toxic effects on heart
Value: undefinedCoumarin	Banned	Flavoring	Tonka bean	1970	Liver toxicity
Value: undefinedCyclamate	Banned	Artificial sweetener	Synthetic	1969	Bladder cancer, damage to testes; now not thought to cause cancer directly, but to increase the potency of other carcinogens.
Value: undefinedDiethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC)	Banned	Preservative (beverages)	Synthetic	1972	Combines with ammonia to form urethane, a carcinogen
Value: undefinedDulcin (p-ethoxy-phenylurea)	Banned	Artificial sweetener	Synthetic	1950	Liver cancer
Value: undefinedEthylene glycol	Banned	Solvent	Synthetic	1998	Kidney damage
Value: undefinedMonochloroacetic acid	Banned	Preservative	Synthetic	1941	Highly toxic
Value: undefinedNordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA)	Banned	Antioxidant	Desert plant	1968 (FDA), 1971 (USDA)	Kidney damage
Value: undefinedOil of calamus	Banned	Flavoring	Root of calamus	1968	Intestinal cancer
Value: undefinedPolyoxyethylene-8-stearate (Myrj 45)	Banned	Emulsifier	Synthetic	1952	High levels caused bladder stones and tumors
Value: undefinedSafrole	Banned	Flavoring (root beer)	Sassafras plant	1960	Liver cancer
Value: undefinedThiourea	Banned	Preservative	Synthetic	c. 1950	Liver cancer
Value: undefinedBenzophenone	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer
Value: undefinedEthyl acrylate	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer
Value: undefinedEugenyl methyl ether (methyl eugenol)	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer
Value: undefinedMyrcene	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer
Value: undefinedPulegone	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer
Value: undefinedPyridine	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer
Value: undefinedStyrene	Banned	Artificial flavoring	Synthetic	2018	Cancer