Cooking Up Cancer

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has filed a lawsuit to make California restaurants comply with a state law requiring businesses to warn consumers when their products contain a known carcinogen. (Chelly's note: The definition of carcinogen is: any substance or agent that tends to produce a cancer. According to the FDA all cooked foods contain carcinogens). The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, passed by voters on a ballot initiative in 1986, helps keep toxic industrial pollution out of ground water, and also protects citizens' right to know when a cancer-causing agent is present in other edibles. One of these carcinogens, PhIP, forms when animal flesh is grilled at high temperatures. The most concentrated PhIP levels are found in cooked chicken, and PCRM maintains that the law must require restaurants to post "clear and reasonable warnings" on their food. President and chief executive of the California Restaurant Association Jot Condie says enforcement of the law would cause many restaurants "to take [chicken] off the menu". (Reuters)- found in VegNews Magazine July-August issue