The U.S. on Wednesday banned the use of a synthetic food dye that gives some candies, cakes and certain oral medications a cherry-red color, following evidence that the dye causes cancer in laboratory rats.

(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday banned the use of Red No. 3, a synthetic food dye that gives some candies, cakes and oral medications a cherry-red color, following evidence that the dye causes cancer in laboratory rats.

On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an order that will ban Red No. 3, a synthetic dye, from food, drinks, and ingested drugs, in the U.S. The additive was first approved for use in 1907,

The FDA banned the use of red dye No. 3 in foods and medicines sold in the U.S. because it has been shown to cause cancer in rats. The action highlights the limits of a federal law known as the Delaney clause.

The US Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of red dye No. 3 in food, beverages and ingested drugs, more than 30 years after scientists discovered links to cancer in animals, the agency announced Wednesday.