California: Coffee not linked to cancer
Businesses can remove ominous warning signs
California regulators have ruled that the link between coffee and cancer is not significant, a decision that would allow businesses to remove ominous warning signs.
Last year, a judge determined that coffee retailers must warn customers under Proposition 65, the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, under which businesses are required to be clear about any harmful ingredients or chemicals they propagate.
Acrylamide – a byproduct that comes from roasting coffee beans – is listed as a carcinogen in California. Studies have shown mixed results about the link between acrylamide and cancer, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said.
On Monday, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the deciding agency for California, said coffee is safe to drink based on the results of more than 1,000 studies that found no substantial evidence linking coffee to cancer.
Sam Delson, a spokesman for the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, said coffee is a mix of hundreds of chemicals – carcinogens and anti-carcinogens. But “the overall effect of coffee consumption is not associated with any significant cancer risk,” Delson said.
William Murray, president and CEO of the National Coffee Association USA, said in a news release: “We represent an industry that brews the number one source of antioxidants in the US diet. Dozens of studies suggest that coffee drinkers live longer, have healthier hearts and are happier.”
A lawsuit brought in 2010 by the Council for Education and Research on Toxics sought civil penalties and injunctive relief under proposition 65. They asked that businesses carrying ready-to-drink coffee products should post a warning on a 10-by-10-inch sign.
California passed a law 30 years ago that any product containing chemicals linked to birth defects or cancer must be labeled as having cancer-causing agents. This is the first time, according to Delson, that the state has found such a large combination of chemicals containing carcinogens to be safe.
The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, a small nonprofit group, is set to challenge the state’s regulation in court, according to Raphael Metzger, the group’s attorney.