Coffee shops might display cancer warnings in California

Ashley May | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption This state may soon declare coffee a cancer risk A California judge is set to decide whether coffee will be officially classified a cancer risk.

A nonprofit that believes coffee could cause cancer has persuaded businesses, by way of a lawsuit, to issue warnings on all ready-to-drink brews sold in California.

At least 13 companies, most recently 7-Eleven, have settled with the Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT) after its 2010 lawsuit, and promised to add warnings to served coffee, CNN reports.

The suit asks for the warning to say this is a "chemical known to cause cancer" or "chemical that causes cancer" in a label at least 10 inches by 10 inches in the establishment.

Metzger Law Group, which represents CERT, is trying to shine light on acrylamide, a probable carcinogen, in coffee. What makes this request particularly potent in California is Proposition 65, the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, which requires businesses to be transparent about harmful ingredients, including acrylamide.

When coffee beans are roasted, acrylamide forms, and scientists haven't found good ways to reduce its presence in the beverage, according to a post on the American Cancer Society website.

Still, Ronald Melnick, a former toxicologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provided a testimony about possible ways to reduce the chemical in coffee, including altering plant selection, harvesting and/or the pre-roasting process, as part of the California trial.

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Reducing or eliminating the toxin is CERT's goal, Raphael Metzger of Metzger Law Group said.

"CERT believes the best resolution of the case would be for the coffee industry to get the acrylamide out of coffee rather than giving acrylamide cancer hazard warnings," Metzger said in a statement.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, and the National Toxicology Program does not recognize coffee as a carcinogen. The only documented link to cancer is the IARC finding that hot beverages (at least 149 degrees) "probably" cause cancer of the esophagus.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.