Announcement of Release of the Public Review Draft of “Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral Effects of Synthetic Food Dyes in Children”

September 18, 2020

On August 28, 2020, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) published a notice of a public comment period for the public review draft of the “Health Effects Assessment: Potential Neurobehavioral Effects of Synthetic Food Dyes in Children”. The notice initiated a 45-day public comment period, which was originally scheduled to close on October 13, 2020. However, OEHHA has received a request from the International Association of Color Manufacturers for an extension of the comment period to allow stakeholders enough time to complete a comprehensive review and response to the report’s conclusions and recommendations.

OEHHA hereby extends the comment period on this risk assessment by 30 days to Thursday, November 12, 2020. The public is encouraged to submit written comments via OEHHA’s website rather than in paper form. Comments may be submitted electronically through the following link: https://oehha.ca.gov/comments or emailed to mark.miller@oehha.ca.gov. Hard-copy comments may be mailed, faxed, or delivered in person to the address below.

Dr. Mark Miller
Air, Community, and Environmental Research Branch
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
California Environmental Protection Agency
Street Address: 1001 I Street
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 4010
Sacramento, CA 95812-4010

At the request of the California Legislature, OEHHA conducted a health effects assessment of the potential impacts of synthetic food dyes on children, particularly for neurobehavioral and other neurologic effects. In conducting this risk assessment, OEHHA evaluated the toxicology, epidemiology, clinical, and exposure literature and databases, and conducted an exposure assessment and hazard and risk characterization. OEHHA accepted scientific information on food dyes from the public during a data call-in period between October 2018 and February 2019, and held a symposium on the neurological and neurobehavioral impacts of synthetic food dyes in September 2019.

The document presents the available information on neurobehavioral effects of synthetic food dyes from studies in children and from studies in experimental animals. In addition, OEHHA evaluates new information from high-throughput assays in cells that provides insight into the potential for synthetic food dyes to elicit neurobehavioral effects. OEHHA also conducted an exposure assessment and compared exposures to the current Acceptable Daily Intakes and to levels that might be considered safe based on newer studies.

The document is available for download below. The public is encouraged to submit written comments via OEHHA’s website rather than in paper form. Comments may be submitted electronically through the following link: https://oehha.ca.gov/comments.

Please provide comment by November 12, 2020.