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Doctors’ Group Sues National Restaurant Chains Under CA Law
THE INDEPENDENT LAB
Fast-Food Grilled Chicken Contains Dangerous Carcinogen
By Mark Isaac Thyss
Garden of Healing®
Today a Washington advocacy group, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, filed a lawsuit asking that restaurant chains should warn California consumers that their grilled chicken products contain carcinogens.
Grilled chicken products from seven national restaurant chains tested positive for a dangerous carcinogenic compound called PhIP, prompting the PCRM to file suit under California’s Proposition 65 to compel the restaurants to warn unsuspecting consumers.
PCRM is suing McDonald’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Chili’s, Applebee’s, Outback Steakhouse, and TGI Friday’s in The Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.
“Grilled chicken can cause cancer, and consumers deserve to know that this supposedly healthy product is actually just as bad for them as high-fat fried chicken,” says PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D. “Even a grilled chicken salad increases the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other forms of this lethal disease.”
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine commissioned an independent laboratory to test grilled chicken products from California outlets of all seven chains.
PhIP was found in every grilled chicken sample from each restaurant where samples were collected. PhIP is one of a group of carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that are found in grilled meat.
In 2005, the federal government officially added HCAs to its list of carcinogens, and PhIP has been on the California governor’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer for more than a decade.
California has more stringent chemical disclosure laws than most other states. The lawsuit asks the restaurants to post warnings about what it calls the carcinogenic dangers of the grilled chicken on its menu.
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