MORGANTOWN – The House of Delegates will take up a bill to ban a handful of synthetic dyes from foods sold in West Virginia starting Monday.
Current code bans added substances and ingredients that are “poisonous or injurious to the health” from food, drink, confectioneries and condiments.
HB 2354 would add a single line to code banning red dye 3, red dye 40, yellow dye 5, yellow dye 6, blue dye 1, blue dye 2 and green dye 3 – because the dyes are linked to neurological and neurobehavioral impacts in children.
After spending two hours hearing testimony on the bill on Tuesday, the Health Committee on Friday approved and advanced to the House floor a revised version adding two more substances to the ban list: butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and propylparaben.
BHA and propylparaben are synthetic food preservatives.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information says BHA “is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental animals.”
The Cleveland Clinic says propylparaben can disrupt the endocrine and female reproductive systems, may also interfere with normal reproductive hormone function in men, and may be linked to breast cancer.
The FDA has already ordered that red dye 3 must be removed from foods by 2027 and medications by 2028 because of its links to cancer. It’s already banned in some European countries, Australia and New Zealand
California has banned blue 1 and 2, green 3, red 40 and yellow 5 and 6 from schools because of concerns about behavior issues. Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania are looking at bans.
HB 2354 will be on first reading on Monday, and up for third reading and passage on Wednesday. It would then move to the Senate.
