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Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday announced a ban on Red Dye No 3, a controversial food and drug coloring long known to cause cancer in animals.

Decades after scientific evidence first raised alarm, Red 3, as it is also called, is currently used in nearly 3,000 food products in the United States, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

"FDA is revoking the authorized uses in food and ingested drugs of FD&C Red No 3 in the color additive regulations," said a document from the Department of Health and Human Services, published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.

The decision follows a petition filed in November 2022 by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other advocacy groups, which cited the "Delaney Clause" -- a provision mandating the prohibition of any color additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals.

Notably, the FDA determined as early as 1990 that Red 3 should be banned in cosmetics because of its link to thyroid cancer in lab rats.

However, the additive continued to be used in foods, largely due to resistance from the food industry. Manufacturers of maraschino cherries, for example, relied on Red 3 to maintain the iconic red hue of their products.

It's also present in thousands of candies, snacks and fruit products.

The United States is one of the last major economies to take action on the dye. The European Union prohibited its use in 1994, with similar bans implemented in Japan, China, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

CSPI hailed the decision as overdue and expressed hope it would lead to further action against other potentially harmful chemicals in food.

"They don't add any nutritional value, they don't preserve the food -- they're just there to make food look pretty," Thomas Galligan, a scientist with CSPI, told AFP.

"There's growing discussion across the political spectrum about food additives and chemicals, which reflects ongoing failures by the FDA."

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Sen. Joni Ernst's decision to throw her support behind embattled Fox News personality Pete Hegseth drew mockery on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday morning.

Reacting to the decision by the Iowa Republican to throw in her lot with Hegseth despite credible allegations of sexual assault and public drunkenness, co-host Joe Scarborough skewered her for first expressing doubts about Donald Trump's controversial nominee and then rolling over after a far-right pressure campaign was waged against her on X.

"You know Joni Ernst came out and she spoke her mind and was very concerned obviously about women in combat, something that she has fought for in her public life," he told his panel. "Also very concerned about sexual harassment and sexual abuse inside the military. And she made no secret of the fact that she was concerned about Pete Hegseth and that she had a couple of hours of people saying nasty things about her on x and asked somebody reportedly, 'How do I make this stop?'"

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"The people who get voting cards these days, it's crazy," he laughed. "It really is."

With the conversation turning to other possible GOP senators who could balk at voting for the nominee due to his lack of experience and sordid history, Scarborough noted that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was a possible no vote, and used her as an example to again take a jab at Ernst.

"I mean, we will see what happens with Lisa Murkowski, somebody who does not let an hour and a half of tough times on social media move her," he stated before adding, "We'll see what happens with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) we'll see what happens with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) We will see what happens to Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA)."

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A well-connected Florida journalist rolled his eyes at a recent report that suggested Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) would not last long as Donald Trump's secretary of state, but he did single out one nominee who might not even get confirmed.

Axios reporter Marc Caputo appeared Wednesday morning on CNN, where he discussed a Politico report that quoted foreign policy experts predicting that Rubio would be undercut by MAGA loyalists as the nation's top diplomat.

"My eyes almost rolled into the back of my head," Caputo said. "I can't say how much B.S. that is. Remember, Donald Trump chose Marco Rubio to be secretary of state. He knows who Rubio is and what Rubio believes, and the differences between these two guys on foreign policy is very, very thin. When Marco Rubio was a United States senator and Donald Trump was president, the first time as Trump 45, Rubio was essentially the de facto secretary of state for the western hemisphere. He was a constant Trump adviser. Trump bounced ideas off of him, took his advice, listened to him. In fact, as I've reported previously, at one point Trump was musing and was being urged to invade or have a military action in Venezuela. Who talked him out of it? Marco Rubio did. So whoever this ambassador is, I'm not sure if they're named, they don't know what they're talking about."

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Rubio is not expected to face much opposition from the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee where he previously sat, and Trump's controversial defense nominee Pete Hegseth also appears poised to make it past the Senate Armed Services Committee, but Caputo said the president-elect's inner circle is concerned about one of his picks.

"In Trumpworld, when you ask them, how confident are you about something on a scale of one to 100 percent, they're always going to say 110 percent," Caputo said. "Now, that said, they will acknowledge that of all of the nominees, the one who is encountering and could encounter the most turbulence is [intelligence director nominee] Tulsi Gabbard. She has, in some of these meetings with Republican senators, according to both Punchbowl News and the Wall Street Journal, struggled at times to answer questions about her views on surveillance. She doesn't seem or didn't seem in some of these meetings to be as well prepared for the job of national director of intelligence. Now some Republicans have since come out and said, 'Okay, she's answering our questions, we're more than happy.'"

"In the end, though, the Republican Senate, the Republicans who control the Senate understand that Donald Trump is a Republican and most of them believe, if not all of them believe, that he should get his picks," Caputo added. "The one exception to that was Matt Gaetz. They bounced Matt Gaetz, and in Donald Trump's view, if you got rid of my Matt Gaetz pick, you need to pick everybody else, though, as you said, one of the issues seems to be that there is reporting that it is Republicans who have been less than thrilled with their interactions with Tulsi Gabbard."

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Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi declined to admit that President-elect Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

At her Wednesday confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked Bondi if she was prepared to state that Trump had lost the 2020 election. But she refused to do so.

"Are you prepared to say today under oath without reservation that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020?" Durbin wondered.

"Ranking Member Durbin, President Biden is the President of the United States," Bondi replied. "He was duly sworn in, and he is the President of the United States. There was a peaceful transition of power."

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"Do I agree with what happened?" she continued. "And I saw so much — you know, not no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country."

"I think that question deserved a yes or no, and I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren't prepared to answer yes," Durbin remarked.

Bondi also said she would consider recommending pardons for Jan. 6 rioters.

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Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) ordered flags at the Nebraska Capitol to be flown at full staff on Inauguration Day even though they were supposed to be at half staff until the end of January due to the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

Pillen issued the order after a complaint from President-elect Donald Trump.

"The official installation of a President is a historic day in the calendar of our nation and should be recognized as such," Pillen said in a statement. "Having the flag at full staff symbolizes the respect to that office and our nation's newly elected leader."

"Flags will fly at full staff from sunrise until sunset on Inauguration Day," the statement added. "The following morning, flags will return to half-staff, resuming the honor to former President Jimmy Carter. Flags are to remain at half-staff in remembrance of the former president through Jan. 28."

In a Truth Social post on Jan. 3, Trump complained about U.S. flags flying at half staff for his swearing-in.

"Nobody wants to see this," Trump wrote. "The Democrats are all 'giddy' about our magnificent American flag potentially being at 'half mast' during my inauguration."

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Pillen became the second Republican governor to lift flags to full staff on Inauguration Day. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) of Texas issued a similar order.

"While we honor the service of a former President, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America," Abbott said.