Vicki

**I put my favorite part in bold.

Hot dogs should carry a warning label, lawsuit says - dailypress.com

"Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer."

That's the label that a vegan advocacy group wants a New Jersey court to order Oscar Mayer, Hebrew National and other food companies to slap on hot dog packages.

The nonprofit Cancer Project filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of three New Jersey plaintiffs asking the Essex County Superior Court to compel the companies to place cancer-risk warning labels on hot dog packages sold in New Jersey.

The defendants in the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, include Nathan's Famous Inc., Oscar Mayer owner Kraft Foods Inc., Sara Lee Corp., Marathon Enterprises Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc., which owns Hebrew National.

Efforts to put warning labels on hot dog packages are "crazy," said Josh Urdang, 27, as he stood in line to buy two franks at Pink's hot dog stand in Hollywood on Tuesday.

"It wouldn't change how many hot dogs I eat. Not at all," said Urdang, an information technology consultant from Hollywood.

His friend Joe Di Lauro, 31, called such a move "overpolicing. . . . At what point do you stop breaking things down? Unless we're going to put a warning label on every single food and say what's bad in it."

Other consumers were skeptical of the Cancer Project's agenda.

"Vegans complaining about hot dogs is like the Amish complaining about gas prices," said Susan Thatcher of Irvine.

Americans spent $3.4 billion buying 730 million packages of hot dogs and sausages in U.S. supermarkets last year, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council.

Nutrition experts say that the science is far more complicated and that slapping warning labels on the staple of baseball games and picnics would not have much effect on public health.

"If one were to call for a 'black label' on frankfurters, where should the warning label end? If we were to evaluate each food for its naturally occurring toxins and eliminate that food, then our food plate would be empty," said Roger Clemens, a nutrition expert at USC's pharmacy school.

The industry is dead set against such warning labels.

"These proposals are unfounded. Hot dogs have been enjoyed by consumers for more than 100 years," said Sydney Lindner, a Kraft spokeswoman.

The Cancer Project is a branch of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that lobbies against animal research and pitches the adoption of meat-free diets.

In the lawsuit, the Cancer Project cites the role of nitrites, preservatives used in cured and processed meats such as hot dogs, in the development of cancer-forming agents.

During digestion, nitrites break down into nitrosamines and other N-nitroso compounds that are considered carcinogens.

Although some medical studies link red and processed meats to cancer risk, it's not clear whether it is because of the nitrites or other factors such as high fat content.

Said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, a nutritionist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York: "There is speculation that nitrosamines can increase cancer risk when consumed in large amounts and frequently. Occasionally should cause no worry. The stuff people typically have with a hot dog may be a more immediate concern: too many calories from all the fat-laden potato and macaroni salads, sugary drinks and sweet desserts."

An American Institute for Cancer Research report cited in the lawsuit notes that one 50-gram serving of processed meat -- about the amount in one hot dog -- consumed daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer 21% on average. Colorectal cancer kills about 50,000 Americans annually.

But a 2004 analysis by Harvard University researchers of pooled data from 14 studies in North America and Europe did not find a similar link between various red and processed meats and cancer. But they did find that higher consumption of poultry and fish may be associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer.

The lawsuit acknowledges debate over how the consumption of some types of meats leads to greater cancer risk, but it argues that that doesn't negate a need for warnings on hot dogs.

There may be arguments for broader health warnings about red meat consumption, but the bigger risk is of heart disease rather than cancer, said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"Though I favor warning notices in certain circumstances, the overuse of warnings can lead to 'warning fatigue,' " Jacobson said. "Eating hot dogs occasionally is not by itself worrisome."

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Herbania

Vegans complaining about hot dogs is like the Amish complaining about gas prices," said Susan Thatcher of Irvine. Love that line myself.

There are soooooo many other foods that need a label before this, how about anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup? Consume enough of that and you'll be dead from obesity or diabetes before cancer can take hold!


I fully support truth in labeling, but keep yer head about it. Some poorer working moms I knew growing up in my crap neighborhood fed their kids hot dogs every day for lunch because they were cheap and just about every kid will eat them without a fuss and they cook up fast. they should just hang a big sign in front of the grocery saying "About 90% of what is sold here will give you cancer..maybe, possibly, if you abuse it, then again maybe not"

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Vicki

My Dad used to say when I was a kid, "I'm waiting for them to announce, 'living in general causes cancer, so why bother.'"

**I hope my punctuation was correct.

Ska

"Vegans complaining about hot dogs is like the Amish complaining about gas prices," said Susan Thatcher of Irvine.

Insanely priceless

Only New Jersey vegans do this

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Vendettagainst

What doesn't cause cancer these days? :P

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Buzzby

I'm thinking that this might get the case thrown out of court. In general, a party bringing a lawsuit must have been hurt physically or financially in order to have "standing".

I would think that the plaintiff in this suit would have to have gotten cancer from eating hot dogs or be a hot dog eater with sufficient proof that eating hot dogs causes cancer. How could vegans, who never eat meat, possibly have standing?

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Ygdonmir

New Jersey should have a cancer label put on it. *Glows in radiation.*

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troublemaker_42

Life should carry a warning label. "Warning, the choices you make may have serious ramifications for your future. Use your brain whenever possible". I mean, seriously, where does it end? Its rediculous. People need to be responsible for their own choices in life, and lack of a label telling you not to do somehting shouldn't be seen as blanket persmission or encouragement to do whatever it may be. What can I say? I don't look at a 300 ft cliff, and when I don't see a sign telling me not to, think that its a good idea to jump off without any sort of safety precuation. Nor so I look at a Big Mac or Whopper, and think "WEll, since theres so many ingrediants, this MUST be GOOD for me, so I'll have 3". The information people need is out there....no one should be held liable if we don't beat them over the head with it.

Furthermore, I have a blanket policy of not really taking the vast majority of animal-rights activism groups the least bit seriously. Most love to appeal to emotion while consistently lacking the facts to back up many of their claims. AS a hunter, fisherman, and as someone whose family raise beef cattle, they basically stand against the very things I enjoy in life, and I can't take them the least bit seriously after seeing their propaganda and so-called "research". Much of ity is so flawed or misguided, its like taking advice on gun ownership from the Brady Campaign( aka a complete joke in every way.)

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If total government control equals safety, why are prisons so dangerous?

nibbles

AWESOME!

I'm vegan and some vegans are stupid, in my opinion. They just want to scare people into not eating hotdogs, but what next? They go to steak, and nobody wins. Who cares if hotdogs are practically inedible? I don't eat them, and neither should you, but I don't care if you do, until you come to me and pay me for nutrition advice.

Vicki

I forgot to mention, they are including all processed meats......bologna, etc., not just hot dogs.

Maybe it's the sodium nitrate?

HowStuffWorks "What is sodium nitrate? It seems like lots of meats contain it."

Sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and its close relative sodium nitrite (NaNO2) are preservatives that you find in lots of processed meats. Stuff like salami, hot dogs, pepperoni, bologna, ham, bacon and SPAM all normally contain sodium nitrate as one of the ingredients. Fresh meats generally do not contain any added chemicals, so the question is, "Why is sodium nitrate added to all of these processed meats?"

There are two reasons for adding these chemicals to processed meats:

They preserve the color of the meat (meaning that it looks pink like SPAM rather than gray like cooked hamburger). You have probably noticed that nearly all meats that contain sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite remain pink or red even though they are cooked during processing.

These chemicals inhibit botulism to some degree.

The jury is out on how harmful these substances are. Sodium nitrite reacts with stomach acid and other chemicals in the stomach to produce nitrosamines, which have been shown to cause cancer in animals when consumed in large quantities. However, there's not much sodium nitrate/nitrite in meats, and we consume sodium nitrate/nitrite from other foods as well, so it is not clear that they are harmful in the quantities we get from meats. Some people recommend that small children and pregnant women avoid these chemicals altogether just to be safe. Since neither canned chicken nor tuna have any redness to protect, they generally do not contain nitrates.