Part of RFK Jr’s MAHA vision blocked by Obama judge in WV
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the first year of President Donald Trump’s second administration trying to implement his Making America Healthy Again (MAHA) vision. But his mission hit a snag during the holiday season when an Obama-appointed judge issued a ruling siding with a conglomerate of dye companies to suppress a groundbreaking ban on artificial food additives.
In his first trip as America’s leading health official in March, Kennedy spoke alongside Gov. Patrick Morrisey in Martinsburg, WV. Morrisey said his state’s ban plan and the choice of his Democratic lineage to visit the region first show that the “MAHA” movement “started right here in West Virginia.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge in the Mountain State, Judge Irene Berger of the Southern District of West Virginia, blocked those plans, siding with the food coloring manufacturers and issuing a preliminary injunction halting Charleston’s ability to implement the policy Morrisey advocated at Kennedy’s event.
Berger, R-Upshur Del. issued a 30-page ruling by Adam Burkhammer blocking implementation of HB 2354, which would ban foods and drugs “doped” with artificial compounds such as butylated hydroxyanisole, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3.
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Knowingly contaminated food with such artificial dyes and compounds would result in a potential misdemeanor charge and a $500 fine. Wheeling News-Sign Up.
Red 3 has already been banned by the FDA, in part because laboratory tests on mice found that red 3 improved. thyroid problems cancerous side effects, according to NIH and HHS documents.
The lawsuit was filed by the International Association of Colored Manufacturers, a K Street organization, which claims the bill causes economic harm to its member companies, allows Charleston to “usurp” Washington’s authority to regulate food safety, and also interferes with interstate commerce, which is a federal issue.
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HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, left, WV Governor Patrick Morrisey, right. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“The law does not arbitrarily and unreasonably target contributions of color by any U.S. entity — state or federal — The IACM added in a statement explaining its case that the ban also lacked “scientific evidence”.
While Berger ruled in favor of the IACM, he also rejected the claim that the policy was an illegal mandate or a law that privileged an individual or group, according to the News-Register.
In a statement, Morrisey said o “I respectfully disagree[s] with [the] gives judgment.”
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“[W]We believe that this decision was premature and wrong. “West Virginia will continue to defend its mandate to protect the health and well-being of our citizens, especially children.”
“We are reviewing our legal options and will continue to advance our efforts to rid our food supply of harmful substances.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Kennedy’s office for comment.
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Berger wrote in his decision that although various food additives are specifically named in the law, the use of the term “toxic and harmful” lacks “criteria that guide its decision”; This negligence could unfairly harm paint manufacturers.
“If a parent notifies [the West Virginia Department of Health] If they believe their child is sensitive to a color additive, is this a sufficient basis for a color additive to be considered ‘toxic and harmful’ or does WVDOH need to investigate further? This is far from clear,” Berger said. West Virginia MetroNews.
He also argued that because the law has not yet gone into effect, it would not harm Charleston’s ability to regulate public health and safety.
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Republicans harshly criticized the decision, and Thurmond, Del. David Elliott Pritt accused “Big Food” of defying the law in the first place.
“Imagine being addicted to profit and being able to go to court so that your company can continue to willfully and knowingly poison the children of this state and nation because you refuse to change your formulas,” Pritt said, calling that perspective “pretty bad.”
Some in the private sector heeded Kennedy’s warnings about the dangers of food additives; Walmart plans to remove synthetic dyes, some artificial sweeteners and oils from generic store brands in the U.S. by January. to Fortune.
West Virginia House Health and Human Resources Committee Chairman Evan Worrell (R-Huntington) told MetroNews that the bill was never about politics, but rather protects children from “unnecessary chemical additives” that have already been banned in other countries.
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During his speech in Martinsburg, Kennedy said that the epidemic of increasing social loneliness and “dispossession” as well as “the crises we are experiencing in mental health, suicide, ADD and ADHD” are interconnected.
“And [linked] especially to paints. “It’s clear that the dyes Governor Morrisey banned are linked to ADHD and cancer by overwhelming research.”
California, Virginia, Utah and Arizona have also since sought to enact similar bans, largely focusing on school lunches.
