Trials & Litigation
Suit Seeks Warning Label on Hot Dogs
Posted Jul 23, 2009, 07:42 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A group promoting a vegan diet has filed a lawsuit requiring hot dogs to carry warning labels saying they could increase the risk of cancer.
The suit filed in New Jersey state court by the Cancer Project seeks class-action status, the Los Angeles Times reports. The complaint claims that nitrites in hot dogs and other processed meats break down during digestion into compounds that are considered to be cancer causing.
Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the bigger health risk from red meat consumption may be heart disease.
"Though I favor warning notices in certain circumstances, the overuse of warnings can lead to 'warning fatigue,' " Jacobson told the Los Angeles Times. "Eating hot dogs occasionally is not by itself worrisome."
Some consumers interviewed by the newspaper were skeptical about the lawsuit. "Vegans complaining about hot dogs is like the Amish complaining about gas prices," said Susan Thatcher of Irvine.
Hat tip to Pat’s Papers.
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.