New Attack Ad Targets Hot Dogs, Citing Dubious Cancer Risk
Tuesday , August 26, 2008
CHICAGO —
A new TV commercial shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria and one little boy's haunting lament: "I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer."
It's a startling revelation in an ad that vilifies one of America's most beloved, if maligned, foods, while stoking fears about a dreaded disease.
But the boy doesn't have cancer. Neither do two other kids in the ad who claim to be afflicted.
The commercial's pro-vegetarian sponsors say it's a dramatization that highlights research linking processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting colon cancer.
But that connection is based on studies of adults, not children, and the increased risk is slight, even if you ate a hot dog a day. While compelling, it isn't conclusive.
The hot dog council called the new ad an alarmist scare tactic, but the promoters, a group called The Cancer Project, defend their campaign.
Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, called the ad "a way to raise appropriate concern about a deadly concern." Barnard also heads The Cancer Project, an offshoot of his anti-meat advocacy group. Read More
The attack on hot dogs by Dr. Barnard’s PCRM offshoot The Cancer Project is just the latest attack by this anti-meat group. This group has always been about telling people how they should live and if they don’t listen, then they try to legislate how you live. Continually blaming certain food groups for this problem or that fails to address what will lead to a healthy life, and that is a balanced diet, that includes meat and dairy products, and exercise.
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