SCRAPS cancer warnings on California coffee: a state regulator states that there is no evidence of link

Coffee will no longer come with cancer warnings in California, the state announced Friday.

In March, a court ruled that all cafes must warn customers that their espresso contains carcinogens.

Today, after a multi-year debate about the importance of risk, the Office of Environmental Health Risk Assessment (OEHHA) has overruled the rule.

Officials found that coffee heating produced a chemical badociated with carcinogens, but with no direct link, and at concentrations so low that it did not pose a clear risk.

The coffee contains acrylamide, a carcinogen recognized in California since the 1990s. Under Proposition 65, the state must warn everyone of every item containing a chemical on this list – that's # 39, there is a causal link between the two or not. However, the OEHHA found that the levels of acrylamide in the coffee were so minimal that they did not pose any risk and that the warning against coffee smelled hyperbole

The decision approving the warning labels against cancer, last March, was the culmination of a multi-year campaign led by the non-profit Board for Education and Toxic Research. .

The group has filed lawsuits against just under 100 coffees and coffee chains, citing evidence that chemicals in the drink are carcinogenic.

The coffee contains acrylamide, a carcinogen recognized in California since the 1990s.

Under Proposition 65, the state must warn everyone of each item containing a chemical on that list – whether there is a causal link between the two or not.

However, the OEHHA found that the levels of acrylamide in the coffee were so minimal that they were safe and that the warning against coffee smelled hyperbole.

French fries and toasts contain more acrylamide than coffee, the agency said, asking: are we going to have labels on everything?

Last year, shortly after California announced warnings against coffee cancer, the highly influential International Agency for Research on Cancer released a report that coffee was not cancerous – and was reducing even the risk of certain cancers.

The agency then called on the state to overturn the court's decision to update the regulations, removing the rule to warn coffee drinkers that they might endanger themselves.

"The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – the only authoritative body on proposal 65 to have evaluated coffee – concluded that coffee consumption can not be clbadified in terms of its carcinogenicity and that 39 it is badociated with a reduced risk of certain cancers in humans, "said the OHHA. said in a statement.

Then, the OEHHA released a report in June that, although the coffee contains acrylamide, the product was not cancerous.

The report found that coffee reduces the risk of liver and uterine cancers.