Cancer Survivor Sues over Grilled Chicken Carcinogen

Fast-food companies market grilled chicken as a healthful option, but most consumers have no idea that the products harbor a dangerous carcinogen. Two Connecticut residents have teamed up with The Cancer Project to file a class-action lawsuit demanding that Burger King, Friendly’s, and McDonald’s warn customers that their grilled chicken products contain PhIP, a chemical that increases cancer risk even in small amounts.

The lawsuit, filed in October in Connecticut Superior Court, states that the three restaurants are in clear violation of the state’s consumer protection law. Rebecca Delio, one of the Connecticut plaintiffs, ate fast-food grilled chicken weekly before being diagnosed with breast cancer about a year ago. She was alarmed to learn that
grilled chicken increased her cancer risk.

PhIP is one of a group of carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). PhIP and other HCAs form when animal muscle is cooked at high temperatures. Longer cooking times and hotter temperatures produce more HCAs, which make grilling, panfrying, and oven broiling particularly dangerous cooking methods. Fried chicken, which contains high levels of saturated fat, is also unhealthful.

“Consumers deserve to know that grilled chicken from McDonald’s and other fast-food chains can increase their risk of cancer,” says Neal Barnard, M.D., president of The Cancer Project. “Even a grilled-chicken salad
increases the risk of developing breast cancer or prostate cancer.”

Other fast-food chains are also feeling the heat on PhIP. In September, PCRM filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against Kentucky Fried Chicken for violating California’s Proposition 65. The chicken chain failed to warn consumers that its new grilled chicken product contains this dangerous carcinogen.

Source: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

The Five Worst Foods to Grill

The Five Worst Foods to Grill
Food	HCAs ng/100g*
Chicken breast, skinless, boneless, grilled, well done	14,300 ng/100g
Steak, grilled, well done	810 ng/100g³
Pork, barbecued	470 ng/100g⁴
Salmon, grilled with skin	166 ng/100g⁵
Hamburger, grilled, well done	130 ng/100g³

*100g portion equals about 3.5 ounces grilled

Tags: Cancer, Cooking, Grilling, Health, Wellness

Comment by David on February 28, 2010 at 9:56am: What a great article. I really didn't know about this issue at all. I didn't see any data though, connecting the
fast food to actual cases of cancer. It will be interesting to see what the result of this class-action will be.

Comment by Susana on February 28, 2010 at 4:45pm: Even if you don't have data about fast food causing cancer, it is well known that in general meat could. Why take the risk?

Of course meat industry is a big business so we would never find out everything.