Fast Food Chains Sued Over "Cancer-Causing" Grilled Chicken
A national group that advocates a vegetarian diet is alleging in a lawsuit expected to be filed in Hartford today that McDonald's, Burger King and Friendly's sell grilled chicken products that contain cancer-causing chemicals but hide that information from the public.
The lawsuit, filed by the nonprofit Cancer Project on behalf of two Connecticut residents, seeks to require the chains to post signs in their restaurants and on their menus and advertisements, warning that chicken that is well-done grilled, flame-grilled or barbecued contains chemicals known to cause cancer.
The chemical cited in the lawsuit, known as PhIP, is considered "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" by the federal government. The federal National Toxicology Program says evidence suggests that eating well-done or grilled meat may be associated with increased cancer risk in humans, but there is insufficient data to conclude the risk comes from PhIP or other specific chemicals.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status to represent people who have eaten, or will eat, grilled chicken from McDonald's, Friendly's or Burger King.
Dan Kinburn, general counsel for the Cancer Project and its affiliate, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said the lawsuit is limited to the three chains because the plaintiffs — Mary-Ann Ellison of Meriden and Rebecca Delio of Stamford — had not eaten grilled chicken at other national chain restaurants. The group hopes to find add plaintiffs who have eaten grilled chicken at other national chains, Kinburn said.
PCRM has filed similar lawsuits against fast food chains in California. Earlier this year, the Cancer Project sued hot dog makers in New Jersey in an effort to get warning labels on hot dogs that would tell consumers that eating hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.
A Friendly's spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
Representatives from Burger King and McDonald's did not return calls seeking comment.
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
Sign-Up Now for the Opposing Views Daily Newsletter
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
I'm usually to running a blog and i really recognize your content. The article has actually peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your website and keep checking for brand spanking new information. Winstrol metropathy Free money grant handgun
I'm putting my 2 cents in here:
1. Fast food is never good for you. That's a no brainer.
2. People who advocate a meat -free diet have to be advocates for the food choice; there aren't many TV ads that tout the benefits of vegetables.
3. When I did eat meat, I tried to eat it responsibly: i.e. grain fed beef; free range chicken, etc.
Pick your poison is what I say. If you feel that fast food is your poison then clean up the rest of your diet. Personally, I prefer to not eat meat but don't ask me to give up drinking. I would much rather die from cancer related mold then cancer related chemicals . Food is merely a fuel for the body. Only you know how to optimze your own body.
I just got back from lunch with a friend and I had grilled chicken. I'm probably going to die.
There are different levels of carcinogens. This is a Group 2B carcinogen, which means there is very little evidence that it actually is a carcinogen in humans. So, I don't understand what this lawsuit is for. The labeling of carcinogens is terrible because it fails to account for moderation. The overwhelming majority of carcinogens in moderate quantities aren't bad for you at all. I guarantee none of us eat a single meal without actually consuming a "carcinogen" or "potential carcinogen."
Look at even Babaroni, even her nice tofu contains levels of nitrosamine, which is actually a well known carcinogen who's levels are regulated by the U.S. government , as opposed to a "maybe" like the one in question here.
This is a stupid lawsuit.
Just wait until every time you order grilled chicken you have to sign a waiver and this will be on every menu: Caution This Product Contains: 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine.
Oh, and I'm with Solar. We don't understand the complicated relationship between our sex hormones entirely, best not to risk it in my opinion! =)
Of course not only do many plant foods contain estrogen-like materials which could have an effect on our own hormonal systems and uptake-receptors, but also, many meat and dairy products either contain naturally-occuring bovine, porcine and other hormones, and/or are contaminated with hormones given to the animals to make them produce more milk, grow more muscle-mass quickly, or lay more eggs faster.
Seems like the only way to avoid this stuff entirely is to fast until you die. Personally, I'll stick with the plant foods that produce naturally-occurring substances which, consumed in moderation, by eating a wide variety of different plants, are unlikely to have the same effects on our bodies as animal hormones which are far more similar to our own.
Grilled chicken was the last healthy meat left!!
*sobs*
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
There's always veganism, Solar...
/Babaroni pats Solar's shoulder sympathetically/
It's not as bad as you fear. In fact, it's pretty darned good. And barbecued tofu doesn't give you cancer . :)
You NEVER see omnivors spending their every waking moment talking about what they eat. I assume it's because most folks find it to be such a fantastically boring topic of conversation that discussing the weather is interesting by comparison.
Are you familiar with aflatoxins? It's produced by molds that are virtually endemic in grains and peanuts. By any measure of such things, it is one of the most, if not the most, potent carcinogens on the face of the earth. It is so fantastically poisonous a single lethal dose is measured in the billionths of a gram. A high, but sublethal dose, will have any living thing riddled with cancer within months. Chronic exposure to tiny amounts eventually causes cancer. The toxin is heat stable and virtually impossible to remove from foods. And, of course, commercial farmers are against it being over regulated because it'd mean getting stuck with produce they wouldn't be allowed to sell. Not to mention that if you buy organic and/or avoid produce modified to resist mycotoxin producing molds, you are certain to receive higher doses than what would otherwise be present.
Cheers! Happiness comes from being at the top of the food chain and being able to eat just about anything.
Why are so many meat -eaters so defensive of their diets, and so terribly, horribly worried about what vegetarians eat and what vegetarians think about?
I'm personally not at all concerned about what meat eaters think of me and what I eat. I don't tell meat eaters what to eat (unless they ask me, which plainly you didn't), so why do they presume to have the right to tell me what I ought to eat? Why should it bother them so much?
My sole objection is to the waste of bandwidth and lame brained posts about what you eat. You can eat cow dung for all I care, I just don't want to look at a thread and see twenty posts about your diet . And, it's not just you. You just happen to be at the end of a long line of veggie heads that do the same thing. I've about come to the conclusion a vegan diet causes one to become anal retentive.
Give it a rest.
I guess that's why you have the choice not to click on threads which you find annoying, hm? It's a big world out there. Feel free to look for things you find more entertaining. :)