Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
Last month, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey signed a law banning seven artificial food dyes and two preservatives to lower future health risks. The law prohibits schools from serving lunches with food dyes. West Virginia becomes the first state in the country to ban food dyes . Robert F. Kennedy, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, celebrated the law at an event with the governor.
The dyes banned by the law are Blue No.1, Blue No. 2, Green No. 3, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Red No. 40, and Red No. 3. Cereals and snacks are typical foods to contain these dyes. Back in January the dye Red No. 3, which are usually found in children’s food, had been previously banned by the FDA.
The preservatives banned are propylparaben and butylated hydroxyanisole. These two chemicals hold a serious health risk to people, especially to children. According to studies, propylparaben interferes with hormones in the human body which shows links to cancer. While butylated hydroxyanisole was described as a “anticipated human carcinogen” from a National Toxicology Program review reported in the New York Times.
“I am very grateful to Governor Morrisey for his visionary leadership and getting West Virginia to lead the way in transitioning off processed foods,” said Kennedy according to The New York Times.
However, not everyone agrees with this new law. Sarah Gallo, the Senior Vice-President at the Consumer Brands Association, has been public the most about her concerns. “Unfortunately, not only will this bill ignore the FDA’s rigorous science and risk-based process of evaluating safe ingredients, it will also limit consumer access to affordable, nutritious and convenient food and beverage choices,” said Gallo according to the New York Times.
According to CBS News, Morrisey gave a statement saying, “West Virginia ranks at the bottom of many public health metrics, which is why there’s no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission.”
The FDA currently approves of thirty-six color additives and nine artificial dyes in foods in the country. Many states, including New York, have proposed around forty bills to handle food additives.
Kennedy has previously alleged food dyes can cause behavioral problems using the sources he gathered from a report by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard and Assessment back in 2021.
After reviewing twenty-seven children, it was concluded that food dyes can in fact cause behavioral problems in some children. Kennedy seeks to have all food dyes banned by the end of his term but it remains uncertain if he’ll have the necessary funding to do so after the massive cuts in federal funding made by the Trump Administration.
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