Coffee, Acrylamide, and Proposition 65 - Part 2

In the court case, Starbucks et. al. made an argument for an Alternative Significant Risk Level (ASRL).

Specifically, Prop 65 allows an exemption to warning requirements even where the NSRL is exceeded if "sound considerations of public health support an alternative level" – for example, where "chemicals in food are produced by cooking necessary to render the food palatable or to avoid microbiological contamination." [Source]

The judge took issue with Starbucks on this matter stating that their claim was not supported by a "quantitative risk assessment" for acrylamide in coffee.

As I understand it, the ASRL is for situations where the potential harm of not consuming the materials because of the Prop 65 warning, outweighs the risk of cancer when consumed.

An example of this is arsenic that is naturally occurring in rice. A quantitative risk assessment could show that the benefits of consuming rice that may contain arsenic over the NSRL outweighs the elevated risk of cancer from one in 100,000 to maybe two in 100,000. I don't think I could make an argument where coffee has benefits that exceed a similar increased risk (from one to two). Starbucks did try:

Defendants argue there is no increased risk of any chronic diseases, including cancer, associated with coffee consumption.  In fact, defendants contend there is strong evidence that drinking coffee is associated with a decreased risk of several major chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, liver cancer and endometrial cancer. [Source]

How then, should Starbucks et. al. have approached this? I think it best to point out what is not going to fly.

First, if your stuff has more than the“no significant risk level” (NSRL) concentration that would be consumed in one unit, then you are out of luck. If you can reduce that concentration to below the NSRL, then Proposition 65 a "safe harbor level" and notification is not required.

Now this is where it gets a bit silly. The logic we use is this. There is a risk of cancer for any amount of a carcinogen one is exposed to. And by "any" we mean one molecule.

There is a risk from one molecule up to some hypothetical concentration where it becomes a 100% risk (yeah...not possible because some folks will not get the cancer, but work with me here...).

Now this "there is always a risk" is what we have decided on, but there are some of us (myself included) that think it creates more concern then is warranted. Look at the money being spent on this issue involving coffee. Look at how many people may - may - stop drinking coffee because the news media just wrote about Starbucks and their coffee containing a chemical that causes cancer.

Toxicologists have also used that scale for noncancer experiments but, for some unexplained reason, most authors of chemical carcinogenesis experiments have instead preferred a linear scale for dose. [Source]

I will get more into this in the following posts. For now, let's look at this.

If one molecule presents a cancer risk, and Proposition 65 allows for a "Safe Harbor" concentration and gives a company the ability to exceed this amount with an Alternative Significant Risk Level (ASRL), then in certain situations, California has decided you don't need to know that the chemical is present.

In other words, if a risk of one additional cancer in 100,000 is worth a warning, why isn't a risk of say three in 100,000 no longer needing to be stated just because the chemical is from a natural source or the benefit of consuming the product containing that chemical is seen as better for you than not consuming it (eat your veggies!)?

Remember that the cancer risk is based on the contaminant alone, not where the contaminant comes from or what benefits form other stuff in addition to the cancer chemical is there.

This then, begs the question of what is more important, knowledge of the risk or adherence to the letter of the law?

Next post: Coffee, Acrylamide, and Proposition 65 - Part 3

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