Warning ahead
Warning: If you live in California, your highly anticipated, absolutely essential and delicious morning cup of coffee may soon come with a warning. A state judge will rule in the next months whether coffee should be labeled as carcinogenic under California law, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why? Because coffee, elixir of the gods, contains acrylamide, a flavorless chemical produced in the roasting process. That is one of more than 900 chemicals—count them, 900—on California’s blacklist of substances known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. Under state law, businesses must warn consumers about the presence of any of those 900 chemicals.
Californians are cautioned about french fries, potato chips, balsamic vinegar, black licorice, new cars, office chairs, wood furniture . . . and, oh yes, snow globes and leprechaun hats. Honest.
Whew! We imagine most Californians are cowering in some woodless, snow globe-free sanctuary in a perpetual state of terror over being contaminated by leprechaun hats, new car scents (!) or all the other items that could be invading their bodies and eventually, slowly, maybe causing cancer.
What that list of 900 really means is that almost everything in life carries some risk. Some are large, some vanishingly small. This obsession with risks, many of them infinitesimal, denies the certainty that life is all about risks—how to evaluate them, how to negotiate them. Something, eventually, will get you.
We support arming people with scientific evidence so they can make smart decisions, not just about food but about other common products and practices. But when government warns citizens about everything, the resulting nonchalance—the dismissive way you rolled your eyes when you read about this coffee alert—means government effectively warns people about nothing.
That’s potentially dangerous because some red flags should be heeded. For instance, black box labels on potentially hazardous medications.
For our money, mom’s advice is as relevant as it was the first, 10th and 750th times she delivered it: Everything in moderation. That goes for coffee, rich desserts and . . . warnings.