Hot Dogs Should Carry Cancer Warning Labels Says US Non Profit Group

More to this than meets the eye.

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

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 per cent 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."

(For more on nitrites/nitrates and the uncertainty of their net effects, see here and here.)

In any event, here is what the original organization that issued the report has to say in response:

"The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and our landmark 2007 AICR/WCRF expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, have been drawn into a controversy over the link between processed meat and cancer risk.

A class-action consumer-fraud lawsuit was filed on July 22 against various manufacturers of hot dogs for failing to warn consumers that consumption of hot dogs increases cancer risk. The lawsuit cites evidence from our expert report showing that processed meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of colon cancer.

What You Should Know:...

- On the subject of processed meat (hot dogs, cold cuts, ham, etc.) and colon cancer, the collected evidence indicates that every 50 gram serving of processed meat (roughly equivalent to 1 hot dog) eaten per day increases colorectal cancer risk by 21 percent. (Note: this means that people who eat a hot dog every day have a 21 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer than if they never eat hot dogs.)

- A 21 percent higher risk is significant and cause for concern; that is why our recommendation is to avoid processed meat.

- But, to put that increased risk in context: A regular smoker has a risk of lung cancer that is between 10 and 20 times that of a nonsmoker. In contrast, a person who eats one hot dog every day has a 21 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer - not even two times the risk of someone who never eats hot dogs.

Whether you should or should not eat hot dogs is not the point of this post.

Since truth has a shelf life, this post is an example of how "truth" gets manipulated.