Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use words

and phrases especially written for people learning English.

On today's program, Jill Robbins tells about new U.S. rules banning a common food coloring.

John Russell reports on research suggesting ancient Celtic women in Britain had deep social networks.

Brian Lynn follows that with a report on new methods for policing information on Meta's social media services like Facebook.

Then, the lesson of the day.

But first...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has banned a chemical widely used to color some food products red.

The ban of the coloring chemical called dye came nearly 35 years after it was removed from skin products because of a possible cancer risk. A group of food safety and health supporters issued a petition in 2022,

seeking to have the FDA ban Red Number 3 in Food.

The earlier ban was ordered in 1990.

After two studies showed red number three caused

cancer in male rats, eating high levels of the chemical.

At the time, however, the FDA only acted to ban the coloring mixture in products put on

the skin or in drugs taken by mouth.

Health activists had long sought FDA approval to expand the ban two food products.

In November, nearly two dozen members of Congress sent a letter demanding that FDA officials

ban red number three. Some of the most common products containing red number three

include sweets, icing, strawberry milk, maraschino cherries, strawberry protein drinks, as well as some gummy vitamins and medications.

The FDA said food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to remove the dye from their products.

...