American Council on Science and Health
More Scares for Parents from Animal Rights Group
By Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D.
July 24, 2008
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1177/news_detail.asp

Using the untimely death of former White House press secretary Tony
Snow from colon cancer as an example, the animal rights activists
misleadingly called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
(PCRM) imply that such a fate awaits children who are fed hot dogs as
part of school lunches.

In an egregious attempt to frighten parents, PCRM today warned that
allowing children to eat processed meats such as hot dogs or baloney
would set them up for cancer later in life.

Although cloaked as concern for children's health, this warning is
simply part of PCRM's animal rights agenda to promote their view that
we should all become vegans (we've written before about PCRM). The
group misses no chance to impugn the safety or healthfulness of any
food derived from animals, including meat and dairy (their infamous
"Got Cancer?" campaign of a few years ago tried to scare men about the
alleged, unfounded risk of prostate cancer from milk).

While no responsible nutrition professional would advocate feeding
children processed meats in large amounts every day, moderate amounts
won't harm them -- and who can go to a ballgame and resist the hot
dogs that make the day complete? Lighten up, PCRM. The reports you
cited are certainly not the final word on cancer causation, and it is
not necessary to go vegan in order to be healthy.

Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D., is Director of Nutrition at the American
Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com).