Big Soda Floods State Capitol In Unprecedented Fashion To Lobby Against MAHA

Lobbyists from the American Beverage Association (ABA) descended on West Virginia’s state Capitol building Tuesday in an attempt to thwart a bill that would ban synthetic food dyes, lawmakers told the Daily Caller.

National lobbyists, who rarely, if ever, show up to Charleston, came out in full force to oppose HB 2354, which would ban the in-state sale of any food products containing Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3.

Newly minted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has lambasted the synthetic dyes and touted studies which show the dyes are linked to negative neurobehavioral outcomes in children.

A new report, described as “the most rigorous assessment of the behavioral effects of food dyes ever conducted,” is based on a review of the results of 27 clinical trials in children performed on four continents over the last 45 years. #TheDefender https://t.co/TB4NzOUt9m

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 11, 2021

Kennedy Jr. held a meeting with top executives from the food and beverage industries Monday, making clear his desire to eliminate synthetic dies from American food products before he leaves office.

Following suit, West Virginia appears poised to become the first state to enact sweeping legislation to ban nearly all synthetic dyes, though not before the lobbyists have their say. (RELATED: RFK’s MAHA Army Descends On Nation’s Capital — From Left, Right And Center)

“I don’t think that they really care about what West Virginia does,” state senator Jason Barrett, who sponsored the senate’s version of the bill, told the Daily Caller. “I think they care about the message that West Virginia is sending to the rest of the country, that we’re willing to have the courage and we’re willing to be the first one to ban these harmful synthetic food dyes.”

The legislature passed the bill by a large margin on March 4. Out of 100 state house delegates, 93 voted in favor, as did 31 of 34 senators.

The senate amended the house’s version of the bill to delay the ban by a year, setting the ban’s start date at January 1, 2028.

Typically after the state senate amends a bill as they did last Wednesday, the house would take it up the next day to concur, state Rep. Evan Worrell, who chairs the West Virginia House Health and Human Resources Committee, told the Daily Caller.

However, the House held the bill from concurrence last Thursday, then again on Friday.

The state’s governor, Republican Patrick Morrisey, asked West Virginia’s house speaker, Roger Hanshaw, to sit on the bill, Worrell told the Caller.

“Over the weekend I called our our speaker and he came away to tell me that the governor was asking us to hold it. That to me was unacceptable,” Worrell said.

A spokesperson for West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, however, denied that claim, telling the Caller that “the governor has not asked Speaker Hanshaw to hold the bill for any date nor asked for consecutive delays.”

“It’s frustrating because we have a new governor, he’s very Trump, MAGA. He supports the MAHA agenda but he is being worked over by the beverage association,” Worrell explained.

ABA, who represent PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and a plurality of other non-alcoholic beverages and soft drink corporations in America, have had national representation in West Virginia’s capital, Charleston, since the bill’s passage.

“It’s very uncommon for ABA to send a DC lobbyist to Charleston,” Barrett, who rolled his own bill banning synthetic dyes in school lunches into the larger senate bill, told the Caller.

The lobbyists have been threatening lawmakers with job losses and barren grocery store shelves.

“The natural result will be empty store shelves and sky-high grocery prices,” West Virginia Beverage Association (WVBA) president Larry Swann told legislators in an email obtained by the Daily Caller.

Swann also threatened Worrell with a shutdown of a new Pepsi distribution center in his district. “The first thing he told me two weeks ago was that all these people are gonna lose their jobs if I run this bill,” he told the Caller.

“I got mad and slammed my fist on the table and I told him, ‘Don’t ever threaten me with jobs again. I’ll make sure everybody knows who you really are.’”

Swann, Worrell noted, had hardly ever made his presence in the capital known, until now.

“I’ve been here seven years in the house, this is the most I’ve ever seen him. I’ve never even seen him in our hallway. He’s never been around. Very rarely have I seen him but now he’s been in the halls every day since this bill,” Worrell said. 

Swann’s email claimed that 60% of grocery store items in the state would disappear. A spokesperson for Americans for Food and Beverage Choice reiterated the claim, noting that a mass ban of food dyes would impact consumers negatively because of widespread supply chain disruptions.

The bill’s primary sponsor, State Rep. Adam Burkhammer, pushed back on that notion, as well as the idea that the state would lose jobs.

“I believe both of those are false,” he told the Caller. “We are going to continue to manufacture foods for years to come, we’re just going to remove these ingredients and we’re going to create a little healthier product for our citizens.”

Vani Hari, a dedicated food safety activist and founder of the popular Food Babe blog, views the idea that 60% of products contain the dyes as an indictment of the food system in America.

“The food industry just admitted that 60% of food at the grocery store has petroleum and coal tar-based ingredients in them — this in itself is a travesty and why we desperately need this type of legislation to pass,” she told the Caller.

The American Beverage Association is saying if States ban dyes, 60% of their store shelves would be empty. Admitting that 60% of grocery store food has petroleum and coal tar based ingredients in them – this in itself is a travesty and why we desperately need this legislation to…

— Vani Hari (@thefoodbabe) March 12, 2025

Burkhammer called the ingredients “poison,” which an Americans for Food and Beverage Choice spokesperson rebutted.

“All of these products have been approved, passed regulatory muster in the US and, for the most part, in Canada and the EU as well,” the spokesperson told the Caller.

Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, and Blue 2 are approved for use in Europe, though the European Union (EU) has banned the use of Green 3 and Red 3. President Biden’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also revoked authorization for the use of Red 3 in January.

The fact that it took the FDA so long to ban the chemical, which, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, promoted thyroid tumors in rats, is enough for Worrell to not trust the agency’s judgement. (RELATED: FDA Food Division Undergoes Shakeup As RFK Jr., MAHA Take Aim At Nutrition)

“We can’t trust the FDA here on these dyes, and they’ve proven that to us with what they’ve done on Red 3,” he told the Caller.

Today, the FDA is issuing an order to revoke the authorization for the use of FD&C Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs in response to a 2022 color additive petition that requested the agency to review whether the Delaney Clause applied. https://t.co/Qd0NFOIUz8 pic.twitter.com/Bpr6XNC8OR

— U.S. FDA Human Foods Program (@FDAfood) January 15, 2025

While the EU does allow the majority of chemicals on HB 2354’s list to be sold, all foods which contain Yellow 5, Red 40, and Yellow No. 6 require a warning label stating they “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

Rather than slap the labels on their products, companies that do business in both the US and the EU, like McDonalds, Kraft and Kellogg, have opted to adopt natural coloring for the European market, according to Herox.

“My question to them is, why aren’t the kids of West Virginia as important as the kids in Europe?” Senator Barrett asked. “How do they deserve less?”

Barrett noted that the food dyes specifically target children.

“There is no benefit whatsoever to a synthetic food diet from from a health standpoint. The only benefit is to the manufacturer to make things look bright and pretty, to appeal to children,” he told the Caller.

For the lawmakers who spoke to the Daily Caller, the issue is personal.

Rep. Burkahmmer fosters a child who showed signs of severe hyperactivity. After eliminating artificial dyes from the child’s diet, he claimed to have noticed immediate results.

“We saw a severe turnaround in his behavior,” he told the Caller. “[He was] able to focus on things like potty training, able to focus on things like sitting at the table, eating dinner with us. That’s when it really came to light that this is a real problem and a real issue that we need to address.” 

Rep. Worrell and his seven children took to hosting a “smorgasbord” of dye-free candy during a family movie night. “You can buy things without dyes in them. It doesn’t change the taste at all. They are literally choosing poison for profit,” he told the Caller.

The bill is likely to pass regardless of Gov. Morrisey’s position. The legislature has the votes to override a veto, Worrell told the Caller, and if Morrisey chooses not to sign or veto it, it will go into effect automatically within five days of landing on his desk.

The legislature appeared close to an agreement Wednesday, March 12, agreeing to table the concurrence vote for one additional day, Worrell told the Caller.

Still, Worrell conveyed, the governor’s reticence is somewhat of a headscratcher, particularly given the fact that he ran on driving out cronyism in the state’s capital.

“I don’t know what his hang-up is,” Worrell lamented. “This is an easy win. And I’ve texted him that. I said, ‘This is easy. You get out there and say you’re supporting the MAHA movement.’”

The Daily Caller reached out to Governor Morrisey’s office but did not hear back by time of publication.