Should hot dogs come with cancer warnings? Doctors group sues California to make it so

A group of doctors is suing the state of California to force health officials to apply cancer warnings to processed meat such as hot dogs, bacon and deli meat.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit with more than 25,000 members in California, argues in a new lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court that the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has neglected to follow state law by not listing processed meat as a health risk.

“Consuming 50 grams of processed meat—about the size of one hot dog—per day increases the risk for colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, death from heart disease, and diabetes by 18, 19, 24, and 32 percent, respectively,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit argues the state should apply what is a known as a Proposition 65 warning to processed meat. California voters passed the initiative in 1986 requiring businesses to warn consumers about products that could cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the consumption of processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans,” according to a statement from the committee.

Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in California, according to American Cancer Society statistics.

“Tens of thousands of Californians are diagnosed or die from colorectal cancer every year,” Dr. Donald D. Forrester said in a statement. “Adding processed meat to Proposition 65 would provide first-line defense against this deadly disease.”