CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia is leading the way with its ban on several artificial food dyes and preservatives.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that 90% of ice cream manufacturers have pledged to remove artificial dyes from their products in less than three years.
In recent weeks, major food manufacturing corporations such as Pepsi, Co., Heinz, Nestle, and General Mills have said they would also be removing artificial dyes, and over 20 states are introducing similar legislation that West Virginia passed earlier this year with House Bill 2354. The bill prohibits the sale of food products containing seven synthetic dyes and two preservatives in West Virginia due to their negative health implications among children and families.
Through this legislation, West Virginia became the first state to enact such a ban.
House of Delegates member from the 23rd district, Evan Worrell (R-Cabell) introduced the bill.
Worrell said that after reading more about how bad artificial food dyes and preservatives really are, and researching federal standards regarding these dyes and preservatives and how the government was essentially allowing food manufacturers to self-regulate, he realized something needed to be done to change these standards.
“I just saw an opportunity, I realized we needed to do something,” Worrell told MetroNews. “We couldn’t rely on the feds and we just needed to do something in West Virginia to try to set the tone, send a message.”
The ban in West Virginia includes seven artificial food dyes, including: Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, and Green Dye No. 3. It also includes the ban of the preservatives butylated hydroxy anisole and propyl paraben.
Worrell said they received a lot of pushback from food and beverage manufacturers at first, but it’s good to see the tides are changing.
“You can see what we’re seeing now and several other states have passed similar legislation, and the secretary RFK Junior has talked about this,” he said. “Now we have places as large as Nestle, Kraft, General Mills, Pepsi, all working to remove artificial food dyes out of their products.”
Worrell said he wants this legislation to be the first step in seeing the Mountain State change its course as being deemed the unhealthiest state in the nation.
House Bill 2354 will be implemented in two phases: first taking effect in school systems across the state this August and then expanding to all food products sold on the market in West Virginia by January 1, 2028.
Worrell said many still aren’t aware of what food dyes and preservatives even are and why they’re unhealthy, and he believes this legislation will also help people become more educated about their harmful effects.
He said it’s important to begin the banning process of these dyes/ preservatives in the school system, because, children especially don’t often know what they may be consuming on a day-to-day basis.
“We have children in our school systems that don’t get a choice, you know, they don’t get to look at a label, they don’t know what’s good for them, what’s bad for them,” he said. “This food is in our school system and so right there, we’re putting unhealthy food in our children’s schools and they don’t even have the option to do something different.”
Worrell said research shows these dyes have a direct neurological effect on children in particular, being linked to reduced focus and hyperactivity, and he hopes this ban will have a positive educational and behavioral outcome for students and their ability to pay attention in the classroom.
He said this is just the first step in cultivating healthier outcomes among children to get them on the right track for the rest of their lives.
“It’s extremely important to look at that generation, right, because that’s who needs to be educated and informed appropriately so they can start making healthier choices at a younger age,” Worrell said. “And we have more to come on that when it comes to legislation properly informing on nutrition and educating on nutrition as well as how important physical exercise is, so this is just one of those small steps we thought we would take first.”
Worrell added that it’s great to see so many others getting on board with this ban and refusing to accept the food manufacturers’ unhealthy standards.
“The question becomes that I think is left out there is why were they allowed to do this in the first place, and why did they choose to do this in the first place?”