Don’t fret over cancer warning ordered for coffee by California judge
The science of coffee and cancer is not definitive, scientists say
Storm clouds are brewing in California’s coffee cups. Companies across the state will have to add a cancer-warning label to coffee, a judge ruled last week, because the drink contains a chemical called acrylamide.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organisation, describes acrylamide as a human neurotoxin and a “group 2A probable carcinogen.”
With those classifications, the chemical certainly does not sound like something people want floating in their morning pick-me-up. But experts said coffee drinkers should not change their habits on the basis of the new ruling.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elihu M Berle sided with a non-profit organisation in a case against Starbucks, Peets and dozens of other coffee chains, saying that businesses that sold coffee were in violation of a state regulation called Proposition 65.
Proposition 65 requires businesses with at least 10 employees to disclose any carcinogens and toxic chemicals in their products.