HOT DOGS SHOULD CARRY CANCER WARNING LABELS SAYS US NON PROFIT GROUP

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HOT DOGS SHOULD CARRY CANCER WARN LABELS US NOT PROFIT GROUP

A US non-profit organization filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking a New Jersy county court to force food companies to put labels warning of cancer risks on any hot dogs they sell in New Jersey.

Described by the Los Angeles Times (LAT) as a vegan advocacy group Cancer Project, wants food companies like Oscar Mayer and Hebrew National, big names in the hot dog world, to put labels on their hot dogs warning that eating this meat product and other processed meats “increases the risk of cancer.”

President of the Cancer Project, Neal Barnard, who is an adjunct professor at George Washington University medical school in Washington DC, told LAT that:

“Just as tobacco causes lung cancer, processed meats are linked to colon cancer.”

“Companies that sell hot dogs are well aware of the danger, and their customers deserve the same information,” he added.

The lawsuit, which according to the LAT is seeking class action status, is brought against ConAgra Foods Inc. (owners of Hebrew National), Kraft Foods INC (owners of Oscar Mayer), Sara Lee Corp, Nathan's Famous Inc, and Marathon Enterprises Inc.

The group refers to a report from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund where scientists say there is no safe amount of processed meat that can be eaten, and that just one 50-gram serving of bacon, sausage, deli meats or other processed meats, every day increases a person's chance of getting colorectal cancer by 21 percent on average.

Processed and cured meats contain nitrites which are added to help preserve the meat. When ingested, these break down into nitrosamines and other chemicals that are thought to be cancer-causing.

Every year, about 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and about 50,000 Americans are expected to die of the disease in 2009.

However, there are mixed views about the research evidence, with some scientists saying it could be the fat content of the food (most processed meats also tend to have high fat) that is linked to cancer. For instance a Harvard study that pooled data from several studies found no link between red and processed meat and cancer but it did find there was a lower risk of cancer when fish and chicken consumption was higher.