State lawmakers move forward with bill to ban harmful dyes, chemicals

What is Senate Bill 4?

SB 4 prohibits any person or entity from manufacturing, selling, brewing, or distributing certain dyes and substances in food products as outlined in the measure. The measure directs the State Board of Agriculture to promulgate rules to enforce the provisions of the bill.

What chemicals / dyes would be banned in the bill?

1. Aspartame;
2. Azodicarbonamide (ADA);
3. Blue dye 1;
4. Blue dye 2;
5. Brominated vegetable oil (BVO);
6. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA);
7. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT);
8. Ethylene dichloride;
9. Green dye 3; 
10. Methylene chloride;
11. Potassium bromate;
12. Propyl gallate;
13. Propylparaben;
14. Red dye 3;
15. Red dye 40;
16. Sodium benzoate;
17. Sodium nitrate;
18. Titanium dioxide;
19. Trichloroethylene;
20. Yellow dye 5; or
21. Yellow dye 6.

When would the ban take effect?

If passed into law, food additives, food color additives, or any other food product that contains the dyes or chemicals would be banned beginning on January 15, 2027. Those additives used to reformulate ingestible drugs would be banned beginning on January 18, 2028.

If passed into law, the bill would go into effect on November 1st, 2025. Between the date it goes into effect and the date the chemicals are completely banned, companies must notify Oklahomans if their products include the chemicals.

The ban says, “Upon the effective date of this act, no person, firm, association, corporation, or any other entity shall manufacture, compound, brew, distill, produce, process, sell, deliver, distribute, hold, offer, or expose for sale as food additives or food color additives or any other food product or additives or color additives used to reformulate ingestible drugs that contain any of the ingredients provided in subsection A of this section without disclosing those ingredients on the product label, website, or a quick response (QR) code on the product label linked to a website.”

What is the penalty if companies don’t comply?

Companies and businesses who do not comply would be given a $5,000 fine. The money from the citations would be deposited into the State Department of Agriculture Revolving Fund, going towards the Oklahoma Farm to School Program Act.

Why does Senator Kristen Thompson want to ban these chemicals?

Senator Thompson started looking into the potential harmful effects of the dyes when they began impacting her children. Senator Thompson says her son saw increased hyperactivity in her son after he drank a red sports drink.

“It's common sense, we're here to protect our children, we're here to protect Oklahomans in the glaring absence of the FDA,” said Senator Thompson.

She says that once she started digging into the issue, she noticed how many Oklahoma families were seeing similar outcomes. 

“I've heard from hundreds of families around the state saying thank you for this, my child was having seizures, my child was having aggressive outbursts, we did a dye elimination diet and their lives changed,” said Sen. Thompson.

What concerns did lawmakers bring up on Senate Bill 4? 

Both republican and democratic senators brought up questions and concerns during the Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee. 

“The way this bill is written now, this is more government regulations on private businesses, not less,” said Sen. David Bullard, (R ) Durant. 

“It will have very broad and drastic and far-reaching and negative effects on the food industry,” said Sen. Nikki Nice, (D) OKC. 

The chairman of the committee, Senator Casey Murdock, was the only “no” vote on the bill.

What’s next for the bill?

The bill will now head to the full Senate for consideration. Senator Kristen Thompson struck the title on the bill, meaning she is working on adjusting some of the language and is open to changes.