You’ve heard of Big Labor, Big Government, Big Business and Big Pharma.
But now you can add another ‘Big’ to the stable of massive conglomerates who want to rule your lives.
Because Big Soda just poured into this State Capitol in an unprecedented move to fight MAHA.
Corporate lobbyists from the American Beverage Association (ABA) recently flooded West Virginia’s state Capitol building in an attempt to put a stopper in attempts to pass a bill that would ban synthetic food dyes.
An unprecedented trip to West Virginia
National lobbyists, rarely, if ever, show up in Charleston, West Virginia’s state capital.
But they showed up in force to oppose HB 2354, which would ban the in-state sale of any food and beverage products containing Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3.
Newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blasted the synthetic dyes and promoted studies which show the dyes are linked to a number of “negative neurobehavioral outcomes,” especially 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.”
RFK, Jr. recently held a meeting with top executives from the food and beverage industries, making it crystal clear he wants to eliminate synthetic dies from American food products before he leaves HHS.
Now it appears West Virginia may just become the first state to enact legislation to ban nearly all synthetic dyes.
But not before the corporate lobbyists from Big Soda have their say on the matter.
“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.
West Virginia leads the way on this MAHA goal
“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,” he continued.
And despite Big Soda’s best attempts, the legislature acted decisively.
The legislature passed the bill by a large margin on March 4.
In the House, 93 of 100 delegates voted in favor of the ban.
And in the State Senate the vote was 31-3.
The senate did amend the house’s version of the bill to delay the ban by a year.
That means, if the Governor signs the ban into law it will take effect January 1, 2028.
But its not done yet.
Usually after the state senate amends a bill as they did last week, the house would take it up the next day to concur, state Representative 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.
Worrell told the Daily Caller that the state’s Republican Governor, Patrick Morrisey, asked West Virginia’s house speaker, Roger Hanshaw, to sit on the bill.
“Over the weekend I called 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.
But a spokesperson for West Virginia House Speaker Hanshaw 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 said.
ABA, who represent PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and other non-alcoholic beverages and soft drink companies, 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 told the Caller.
The lobbyists have been threatening lawmakers with job losses and empty 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.
Swann also threatened Worrell with shutting down 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.
It sounds like Big Soda, just like Big Pharma, is running scared.
