The culprit is a byproduct of the bean roasting process that is a known carcinogen and has been at the heart of an eight-year legal struggle between a tiny nonprofit group and Big Coffee.<\/p>\n
The Council for Education and Research on Toxics wanted the coffee industry to remove acrylamide from its processing \u2014 like potato chip makers did when it sued them years ago \u2014 or disclose the possible risk in signs or labels. The industry, led by Starbucks Corp., said the level of the chemical in coffee isn\u2019t harmful and any risks are outweighed by benefits.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said Wednesday that the coffee makers hadn\u2019t presented the proper grounds at trial to prevail.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile plaintiff offered evidence that consumption of coffee increases the risk of harm to the fetus, to infants, to children and to adults, defendants\u2019 medical and epidemiology experts testified that they had no opinion on causation,\u201d Berle wrote in his proposed ruling. \u201cDefendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving \u2026 that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suit was brought against Starbucks and 90 companies under a law passed by California voters in 1986 that has been credited with culling cancer-causing chemicals from myriad products and also criticized for leading to quick settlement shakedowns.<\/p>\n
The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, better known as Proposition 65, requires warning labels for about 900 chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects. It allows private citizens, advocacy groups and attorneys to sue on behalf of the state and collect a portion of civil penalties for failure to provide warnings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop. 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health,\u201d said William Murray, president and CEO of the National Coffee Association, who added that coffee had been shown to be a healthy beverage.<\/p>\n
Scientific evidence on coffee has gone back and forth for a long time, but concerns have eased recently about possible dangers of coffee, with some studies finding health benefits.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization moved coffee off its \u201cpossible carcinogen\u201d list.<\/p>\n
Studies indicate coffee is unlikely to cause breast, prostate or pancreatic cancer, and it seems to lower the risks for liver and uterine cancers, the agency said. Evidence is inadequate to determine its effect on dozens of other cancer types.<\/p>\n
Coffee companies have said it\u2019s not feasible to remove acrylamide from their product without ruining the flavor.<\/p>\n
But attorney Raphael Metzger, who brought the lawsuit and drinks a few cups of coffee a day, said the industry could remove the chemical without impairing taste.<\/p>\n
\u201cI firmly believe if the potato chip industry can do it, so can the coffee industry,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cA warning won\u2019t be that effective because it\u2019s an addictive product.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many coffee shops have already posted warnings that say acrylamide is cancer-causing chemical found in coffee. But signs that are supposed to be posted at the point of sale are often found in places not easily visible, such as below the counter where cream and sugar are available.<\/p>\n
Customers at shops that post warnings are often unaware or unconcerned about them.<\/p>\n
Afternoon coffee drinkers at a Los Angeles Starbucks said they might look into the warning or give coffee drinking a second thought after the ruling, but the cup of joe was likely to win out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t think it would stop me,\u201d said Jen Bitterman, a digital marketing technologist. \u201cI love the taste, I love the ritual, I love the high, the energy, and I think I\u2019m addicted to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darlington Ibekwe, a lawyer in Los Angeles, said a cancer warning would be annoying but wouldn\u2019t stop him from treating himself to three lattes a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like cigarettes. Like, damn, now I\u2019ve got to see this?\u201d he said. \u201cDude, I\u2019m enjoying my coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defendants have a couple weeks to challenge the ruling before it is final and could seek relief from an appellate court.<\/p>\n
If the ruling stands, it could come with a stiff financial penalty and could rattle consumers beyond state lines.<\/p>\n
The judge can set another phase of trial to consider potential civil penalties up to $2,500 per person exposed each day over eight years. That could be an astronomical sum in a state with close to 40 million residents, though such a massive fine is unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
culprit is a byproduct of the bean roasting process that is a known carcinogen and has been at the heart of an eight-year legal struggle between a tiny nonprofit group and Big Coffee. The Council for Education and Research on Toxics wanted the coffee industry to remove acrylamide from its processing \u2014 like potato […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[2370,438],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-100645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-cancer","tag-food"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100645"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=100645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}