When one in every of Adam Burkhammer’s foster youngsters struggled with hyperactivity, the West Virginia legislator and his spouse determined to change their eating regimen and take away any meals that contained artificial dyes.
“We noticed a turnaround in his habits, and our different youngsters,” mentioned Burkhammer, who has adopted or fostered 10 youngsters together with his spouse. “There are actual impacts on actual youngsters.”
The Republican turned his expertise into laws, sponsoring a invoice to ban seven dyes from meals offered within the state. It grew to become regulation in March, making West Virginia the primary state to institute such a ban from all meals merchandise.
The invoice was amongst a slew of state efforts to control artificial dyes. In 2025, roughly 75 payments geared toward meals dyes had been launched in 37 states, in line with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.
Chemical dyes and diet are simply a part of the broader “Make America Wholesome Once more” agenda. Promoted by Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., MAHA concepts have made their deepest inroads on the state stage, with robust assist from Republicans — and in some locations, from Democrats. The $50 billion Rural Well being Transformation Program — created final 12 months as a part of the GOP’s One Huge Lovely Invoice Act to develop well being care entry in rural areas — affords incentives to states that implement MAHA insurance policies.
Federal and state officers are in search of a broad swath of well being coverage modifications, together with rolling again routine vaccinations and increasing using medication reminiscent of ivermectin for remedies past their accepted use. State lawmakers have launched dozens of payments focusing on vaccines, fluoridated water, and PFAS, a bunch of compounds generally known as “endlessly chemical compounds” which were linked to most cancers and different well being issues.
Along with West Virginia, six different states have focused meals dyes with new legal guidelines or govt orders, requiring warning labels on meals with sure dyes or banning the sale of such merchandise in faculties. California has had a regulation regulating meals dyes since 2023.
Most artificial dyes used to paint meals have been round for many years. Some medical research have discovered a hyperlink between their use and hyperactivity in youngsters. And in early 2025, within the final days of President Joe Biden’s time period, the Meals and Drug Administration outlawed using a dye generally known as Purple No. 3.
Main meals firms together with Nestle, Hershey, and PepsiCo have gotten on board, pledging to remove a minimum of some colour components from meals merchandise over the subsequent 12 months or two.
“We anticipate that the momentum we noticed in 2025 will proceed into 2026, with a specific deal with ingredient security and transparency,” mentioned John Hewitt, the senior vp of state affairs for the Client Manufacturers Affiliation, a commerce group for meals producers.
This previous summer season, the group known as on its members to voluntarily remove federally licensed synthetic dyes from their merchandise by the top of 2027.
“The state legal guidelines are actually what’s motivating firms to do away with dyes,” mentioned Jensen Jose, regulatory counsel for the Heart for Science within the Public Curiosity, a nonprofit well being advocacy group.
Andy Baker-White, the senior director of state well being coverage for the Affiliation of State and Territorial Well being Officers, mentioned the bipartisan assist for payments focusing on meals dyes and ultraprocessed meals struck him as uncommon. A number of pink states have proposed laws modeled on California’s 2023 regulation, which bans 4 meals components.
“It is not fairly often you see states like California and West Virginia on the forefront of a difficulty collectively,” Baker-White mentioned.
Though Democrats have joined Republicans in a few of these efforts, Kennedy continues to drive the agenda. He appeared with Texas officers when the state enacted a bundle of food-related legal guidelines, together with one which bars people who take part within the Supplemental Diet Help Program — SNAP, or meals stamps — from utilizing their advantages to purchase sweet or sugary drinks. In December, the U.S. Division of Agriculture accepted comparable waivers sought by six states. Eighteen states will block SNAP purchases of these objects in 2026.
There are sure to be extra. The Rural Well being Transformation Program additionally affords incentives to states that applied restrictions on SNAP.
“There are actual and concrete results the place the agricultural well being cash offers factors for modifications in SNAP eligibility or the SNAP definitions,” Baker-White mentioned.
In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a invoice that units a authorized definition for ultraprocessed meals and can part them out of faculties. It is a transfer that could be copied in different states in 2026, whereas additionally offering fodder for authorized battles. In December, San Francisco Metropolis Lawyer David Chiu sued main meals firms, accusing them of promoting “dangerous and addictive” merchandise. The lawsuit names particular manufacturers — together with cereals, pizzas, sodas, and potato chips — linking them to critical well being issues.
Kennedy has additionally blamed ultraprocessed meals for persistent illnesses. However even proponents of the efforts to sort out diet considerations do not agree on which meals to focus on. MAHA adherents on the appropriate have not centered on sugar and sodium as a lot as policymakers on the left. The events have additionally butted heads over some Republicans’ championing of uncooked milk, which may unfold dangerous germs, and the consumption of saturated fats, which contributes to coronary heart illness.
Policymakers anticipate different flash factors. Strikes by the FDA and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention which might be making vaccine entry harder have led blue states to search out methods to set their very own requirements aside from federal suggestions, with 15 Democratic governors asserting a new public well being alliance in October. In the meantime, extra pink states might remove vaccine mandates for workers; Idaho made them unlawful. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing to remove faculty vaccine mandates.
At the same time as Kennedy advocates eliminating synthetic dyes, the Environmental Safety Company has loosened restrictions on chemical compounds and pesticides, main MAHA activists to flow into a web-based petition calling on President Donald Trump to fireplace EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
Congress has but to behave on most MAHA proposals. However state lawmakers are poised to sort out a lot of them.
“If we’re sincere, the American folks have misplaced religion in a few of our federal establishments, whether or not FDA or CDC,” mentioned Burkhammer, the West Virginia lawmaker. “We’ll step up as states and do the appropriate factor.”
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working packages at KFF — the unbiased supply for well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism.
![[Rappler’s Best] Our Facebooking troopers](https://www.rappler.com/tachyon/2026/01/120126-Our-Facebooking-soldiers.jpg "[Rappler’s Best] Our Facebooking troopers")
