星巴克真的會致癌？國外專家有話說

 

California coffee shops may soon be forced to warn customers about a possible cancer risk linked to their morning jolt of java.

加州的咖啡店可能很快就會被迫要向客戶發出警告，飲用咖啡可能會有致癌的風險。

 

The state keeps a list of chemicals it considers possible causes of cancer, and one of them, acrylamide, is created when coffee beans are roasted.

該州羅列了一份有可能致癌的化學成分清單，其中一種成分丙烯酰胺就是在咖啡豆烘烤時產生的。

 

A lawsuit first filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2010 by the nonprofit Council for Education and Research on Toxics targets several companies that make or sell coffee, including Starbucks and 7-Eleven The suit alleges that the defendants "failed to provide clear and reasonable warning" that drinking coffee could expose people to acrylamide.

公益機構“有毒物質教育與研究委員會”於2010年首次向洛杉磯高等法院提起訴訟，起訴對象是製造或銷售咖啡的幾家公司，包括星巴克和7-Eleven便利店。該訴訟稱，被告“未能提供明確和合理的警告”，因爲喝咖啡可能會使人們接觸致癌物質丙烯酰胺。

 

The court documents state that, under the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65, businesses must give customers a "clear and reasonable warning" about the presence of agents that affect health -- and that these stores failed to do so.

法院文件指出，根據1986年加利福尼亞州《安全飲用水和有毒物質強制執行法案》（也稱爲第65號提案），企業必須就影響健康的藥劑的存在給予客戶“明確和合理的警告”——而這些商店並沒有這樣做。

 

In addition to paying fines, the lawsuit wants companies to post warnings about acrylamide with an explanation about the potential risks of drinking coffee. If the suit is successful, the signs would need to be clearly posted at store counters or on walls where someone could easily see them when making a purchase.

該訴訟除了要求支付罰款外，還要求公司發佈有關丙烯酰胺的警告，並解釋喝咖啡的潛在風險。如果訴訟成功，將需要在商店櫃檯或牆壁上明確張貼這些警告標誌，讓消費者在購買咖啡時能很容易地看見。

 

Raphael Metzger, the attorney representing the nonprofit, said it really wants the coffee companies to reduce the amount of the chemical to the point where there would be no significant cancer risk.

代表該公益機構的律師Raphael Metzger表示，他確實希望咖啡公司能將咖啡中該化學成分減少到不存在重大癌症風險的程度。

  

"I'm addicted to coffee, I confess, and I would like to be able to have mine without acrylamide," Metzger said.

“我承認，我也有喝咖啡的習慣，但我也希望咖啡裏面能夠沒有丙烯酰胺，”Metzger說。

 

At a bench trial last fall, the coffee companies argued that the level of acrylamide in coffee should be considered safe under the law and that the health benefits of coffee essentially outweigh the risk.

在去年秋季的一次法官審訊中，咖啡公司認爲，咖啡中丙烯酰胺的含量根據法律規定應該是安全的，並且咖啡對健康的益處基本上超過了風險。

 

At least 13 of the defendants have settled and agreed to give a warning, most recently 7-Eleven, according to Metzger. The convenience store chain did not respond to requests for comment.

據Metzger稱，至少有13名被告已經和解，並同意發出警告，近期的如7-Eleven便利店。但是該便利店連鎖店並沒有作出迴應。

 

Starbucks referred questions to the National Coffee Association, the industry's trade association, which said it was not in a position to comment on the litigation.

星巴克也向美國國家咖啡協會提出了質疑，該協會稱其無權評論該訴訟。

 

Bill Murray, the association's president and CEO, said in a statement, "Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to be a healthy beverage. The US Government's own Dietary Guidelines state that coffee can be part of a healthy lifestyle. This lawsuit simply confuses consumers, and has the potential to make a mockery of Prop 65 cancer warning at a time when the public needs clear and accurate information about health."

該協會的總裁兼首席執行官Bill Murray在一份聲明中表示：“咖啡一次又一次地被證明是一種健康的飲料。美國政府自己的膳食指南中也指出，咖啡可以成爲健康生活方式的一部分。這場訴訟只是爲了混淆消費者的視聽，並且很有可能是對65號法案的嘲弄，還是在公衆需要清晰和準確的健康信息的時候。”

  

Coffee has been much studied over the years, and research has shown that it provides several health benefits, including lowering your risk of early death. It may reduce your risk of heart disease, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's and even some cancers like melanoma and prostate cancer. However, a review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, found that drinking very hot beverages was "probably carcinogenic to humans" due to burns to the esophagus; there was no relation to the chemical acrylamide.

對咖啡的研究多年來一直在進行着，研究表明它對健康有多種益處，包括降低早逝的風險。它可以降低心臟病，多發性硬化症，2型糖尿病，阿爾茨海默氏症，甚至一些癌症如黑色素瘤和前列腺癌的風險。然而，國際癌症研究機構（世界衛生組織的一個分支機構）的一項研究表明，飲用非常熱的飲料導致燒傷食道纔可能使人致癌，其實與化學成分丙烯酰胺並沒有什麼關係。

 

The science on human exposure to acrylamide still needs "future studies," according to a 2014 review of scientific research on the chemical's relationship to a wide variety of cancers in the Journal of Nutrition and Cancer.

根據2014年營養與癌症雜誌關於丙烯酰胺與各種癌症之間關係的科學研究綜述，人類對丙烯酰胺的接觸影響仍需更多的探究才能證明。

 

In addition to coffee, acrylamide can be found in potatoes and baked goods like crackers, bread and cookies, breakfast cereal, canned black olives and prune juice, although its presence is not always labeled. It's in some food packaging and is a component of tobacco smoke. According to the National Cancer Institute, people are exposed to "substantially more acrylamide from tobacco smoke than from food."

除了咖啡，丙烯酰胺還可以在馬鈴薯和一些烘焙食品中找到，例如鹹餅乾、麪包、曲奇、早餐麥片、罐裝黑橄欖和西梅汁，雖然在這些食品上並不總是會貼上“內含丙烯酰胺”的標籤。它還存在於某些食品包裝中，更是菸草煙霧的一部分。根據美國國家癌症研究所的數據，人們接觸到的“菸草煙霧中的丙烯酰胺含量遠遠高於食物含量”。

 

In 2002, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified acrylamide as a group 2A carcinogen for humans based on studies done in animals. Studies done on humans have found "no statistically significant association between dietary acrylamide intake and various cancers," according to the 2014 research review.

2002年，國際癌症研究機構根據對動物的研究，將丙烯酰胺歸爲人體2A類致癌物。但是2014年的研究報告則表示，在對人類進行的研究中發現“膳食丙烯酰胺攝入量與各種癌症之間沒有呈統計學顯著的相關性”。

  

A few additional studies have seen an increased risk for renal, ovarian and endometrial cancers; however, "the exposure assessment has been inadequate leading to potential misclassification or underestimation of exposure," according to the 2014 research review.

另外一些研究稱丙烯酰胺增加了腎癌、卵巢癌和子宮內膜癌的風險；然而，根據2014年的研究報告，“暴露評估不足會導致潛在錯誤分類或對暴露的低估”。

 

Even the studies showing cancer links between acrylamide in rats and mice used doses "1,000 to 100,000 times higher than the usual amounts, on a weight basis, that humans are exposed to through dietary sources," the research review said.

研究評論說，即使是表明大鼠和小鼠體內丙烯酰胺與癌症存在聯繫的研究，使用的丙烯酰胺劑量也是“以單位體重爲基礎，人體暴露於飲食來源的通常量的1,000至100,000倍之多”。

 

Humans are also thought to absorb acrylamide at different rates and to metabolize it differently than rodents, earlier research showed.

早先的研究也顯示，人類也被認爲會以不同的速度吸收丙烯酰胺並以不同於齧齒動物的方式代謝丙烯酰胺。

 

The National Toxicology Program's Report on Carcinogens considers acrylamide to be "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen."

國家毒理學規劃處關於致癌物的報告認爲，丙烯酰胺被“合理列爲人類致癌物”。

 

The Food and Drug Administration website says it "is still in the information gathering stage" on the chemical, but the FDA gave consumers suggested ways to cut it out of their diet. The FDA also provided guidance to the industry intended to suggest a range of approaches companies could use to reduce acrylamide levels. The recommendations are only a guide and are "not required," according to the website.

美國食品和藥物管理局網站稱，對於該化學成分的鑑定“仍處於信息收集階段”，但該管理局爲消費者提供瞭如何將其從飲食中去除的方法。美國食品和藥物管理局還向該行業提供了指導，旨在提出一系列公司可用於降低丙烯酰胺含量的方法。據該網站稱，這些建議只是一個指導，並不強制執行。

 

California added acrylamide to its carcinogen list in January 1990, and the state has successfully taken companies to court over it.

加利福尼亞於1990年1月將丙烯酰胺加入其致癌物質清單中，該州成功地將一些涉事公司告上法庭。

 

In 2008, the California attorney general settled lawsuits against Heinz, Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods and Lance Inc. when the companies agreed to reduce the levels of acrylamide found in potato chips and French fries.

2008年，當這幾家公司同意降低薯片和法式炸薯條中丙烯酰胺的含量時，加利福尼亞州檢察長就亨氏食品公司、菲多利、凱特爾食品和蘭斯公司的訴訟達成和解。

 

In 2007, fast food restaurants in California posted acrylamide warnings about fries and paid court penalties and costs for not posting the warnings in prior years.

2007年，加利福尼亞州的快餐店張貼了有關薯條中丙烯酰胺的警告，並支付了罰款以及過去幾年未發佈警告的費用。

 

"We have a huge cancer epidemic in this country, and about a third of cancers are linked to diet," Metzger said. "To the extent that we can get carcinogens out of the food supply, logically, we can reduce the cancer burden in this country. That's what this is all about."

“癌症正大肆蔓延在我們整個國家，大約三分之一的癌症就與飲食有關，”Metzger說。“如果我們能從食物供應中去除致癌物質，那麼我們就可以減少國家的癌症負擔，這就是一切的癥結所在。”

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