Warning: Hot Dogs Kill ~

First there were No Smoking Sections on Airplanes followed by a total ban. Then came peanut free zones and now many airlines won’t even serve peanuts on their flights.

Are we soon looking at hot dog free zones? Will a baseball game in America soon resemble the stands in Japan with fans eating Lo Mein with chop-stix rather than stuffing our faces with a quality all beef Frank??

This may be what’s ahead if The Cancer Project, a nonprofit anti-meat consumer group based in Washington DC, has their way. Recently, in Essex County, New Jersey the group alleged in a class-action law suit that hot dogs pose serious health risks and need to carry warning labels similar to those on a package of cigarettes. Something to the effect of:

“Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats

pose a serious increase in the risk of cancer.”

The suit cites a two-year study by the American Institute for Cancer Research stating that the amount of processed meat in a single hot dog (consumed daily, mind you) increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 21 percent.

The study recommends consumption of red meat should be limited to 18 ounces or less per week and processed meats such as hot dogs, bologna and cold cuts be eliminated from your diet all together.

According to The Cancer Project, Americans eat approximately 1.5 billion pounds of hot dogs annually. Also, the average person eats 32 pounds of processed meat every year. Sixty-two percent of Americans eat some form of processed meat. The conclusion then is that this is the reason 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer every year.

Personally, I really like the study released earlier this year by The National Cancer Institute which found that people who eat large amounts processed meats (ie: Hot Dogs) are more likely to die (Duh!) … especially from cancer of heart disease. Now, I’m no statistician, but if I’m not mistaken the death ratio among humans is still one in one!

I gave up smoking for a multitude of reasons – one was health issues, obviously. There was also the cost factor along with regaining control of my life.

I love hot dogs, I’m not totally sure about the health issues of me having an all beef frank on occasion but unless I was eating an entire package of Nathan’s Famous or Hebrew Nationals daily, (both great hot dogs, by-the-way) I don’t foresee a major cost issue. Further, my need for a Hot Dog doesn't have me running out on the side walk a few times each day.

For those of you who've in the past "wished you were an Oscar Meyer Wiener" ... all I can say is be careful what you wish for.