Current Ongoing Movement to Ban Artificial Dyes in the U.S. Makes Excellent Progress

This Picture provided by Hope Natural Health shows some commonly used food dyes. https://hopenaturalhealth.com/food-dye-101/

Red No. 3 or erythrosine, a bright red colored synthetic food dye commonly used in certain types of candy, cakes, and cupcakes was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in January. The reason for the ban was stated as possible causes for cancer in humans or animals. Since then, a movement to ban all 36 currently available food dye has been slowly gaining momentum.

Exactly 20 states, including Oklahoma, West Virginia, and New York have together proposed around 40 bills with a goal to eliminate artificial dyes once and for all for the general public.

“We’re really encouraged,” said Brandon Cawood, an advocate for eliminating food dyes who, along with his wife, Whitney, created “To Dye For: The Documentary,” a film that has been cited by West Virginia lawmakers. “Oklahoma, Utah, Tennessee have bills on the table. Florida, New York, Texas, Arizona. All these states all over the place are popping up.”

Just this month, West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill prohibiting the sale of seven artificial dyes, this includes Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2 and Green No. 3. This bill is set to take into effect starting in January of 2028. These dyes would also be banned from school breakfasts and lunches starting from August 1 of 2025.

The bill has since received significant amounts of backlash from food, beverage and candy industries, they state that the legislation will outlaw 60% of the items currently on sale in West Virginia grocery stores. Furthermore, the industry also claims that there is a lack of scientific evidence against the dyes and that the economic impact to the state will be severe.

“They were quick to act on this, but without any real facts and without any real research,” said Stacie Rumenap, spokesperson for Americans for Food and Beverage Choice, a national lobbying group spearheaded by the American Beverage Association. “They were looking to do something very quickly without any evidence to show the why, and not taking into account economic disruption and higher grocery prices.”