FILE – Bins of Marshmallow Peeps are lined up on the Simply Born manufacturing unit in Bethlehem, Pa., on April 2, 2003. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, a regulation making California the primary state to ban 4 chemical compounds from meals and drinks. It bans pink dye no. 3, a meals coloring utilized in sweet like Peeps. (AP Photograph/Rick Smith, File)
CHARLESTON – A invoice banning sure meals dyes and components is the newest invoice signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
Morrisey introduced Monday night that he signed Home Invoice 2354, banning sure merchandise from meals in West Virginia.
“West Virginia ranks on the backside of many public well being metrics, which is why there’s no higher place to steer the Make America Wholesome Once more mission,” Morrisey mentioned. “By eliminating dangerous chemical compounds from our meals, we’re taking steps towards bettering the well being of our residents and defending our kids from vital long-term well being and studying challenges.”
HB 2354 would amend State Code concerning adulterated meals and medicines banning particular meals components and dyes present in processed meals merchandise offered within the state, equivalent to pink dye No. 3 and yellow dye No. 5, deeming them unsafe. Different components that may be prohibited embody butylated hydroxyanisole, propylparaben, pink dye No. 40, yellow dye No. 6, blue dye No. 1, blue dye No. 2, and inexperienced dye No. 3.
The ban on meals merchandise would go into impact on Jan. 1, 2028. Restrictions in HB 2354 would prohibit the inclusion of those dyes and components in meals served in faculties as a part of diet packages starting Aug. 1. In line with the invoice, faculties would nonetheless be capable to promote non-compliant objects for fundraising functions if offered off-premises or after college hours.
The invoice would additionally shield people within the state from felony provisions within the invoice so long as they promote lower than $5,000 in mixture meals gross sales monthly for merchandise containing the banned meals components and dyes.
Below State Code, people who knowingly contaminate meals objects on the market containing the banned meals dyes and components with out informing the customer might be charged with a misdemeanor and face potential fines as much as $500, spend as much as one 12 months in jail or each, whereas additionally masking the prices of analyzing the adulterated substance.
The U.S. Meals and Drug Administration has already banned pink dye No. 3 in January, ordering its elimination from meals merchandise by Jan. 15, 2027, and from ingested medication by Jan. 18, 2028. This comes after research displaying a hyperlink to most cancers after assessments on male mice, although it was unclear whether or not there was a human hyperlink to elevated most cancers charges. A 2021 California Environmental Safety Company evaluate of meals dyes and components discovered hyperlinks between sure dyes and conduct points in kids.
California has already handed a slim ban on sure dyes and Politico stories that greater than a dozen states are contemplating comparable bans. However HB 2354 can be one of many largest bans.
“As we speak’s announcement represents a step towards a productive dialogue about how West Virginia and our nation can eat more healthy and tackle a few of the vexing well being care issues going through our residents,” Morrisey mentioned. “By means of the implementation course of, I stay up for advancing insurance policies which enhance our well being care outcomes, keep our jobs, and respect the FDA’s and provide channel’s position within the course of.”
