加州咖啡將貼上致癌警告

First, they came for our bacon, and now they'retrying to come for our coffee. Cups of java inCalifornia will soon come with a warning-about theirpotential to cause cancer. Yep, you read that right. Coffee vendors in the Golden State will have to warncustomers about a possibly cancer-causing chemicalin everyone's favorite morning drug-err, drink.

起初，癌癥侵襲培根，現(xiàn)在居然又將魔爪伸向了咖啡。加州的咖啡很快就會貼上警告--可能致癌的警告。是的，你沒看錯。加州的咖啡供應(yīng)商不得不警告客戶，在他們最愛的早晨藥品--額，飲品中，可能會有致癌化學(xué)物。

Here's some background: In 2010, the Council for Education and Research on Toxics filed alawsuit in California with the goal of requiring a warning to coffee consumers aboutacrylamide, a byproduct of the coffee bean roasting process, Time reported. This week, afterprotests from coffee vendors, a judge ruled in favor of the Council, meaning retailers will belegally bound to deliver the bad news.

背景知識如下：《時代》雜志報道，2010年，有毒物質(zhì)教育和研究委員會(the Council for Education andResearch on Toxics)在加利福尼亞州提起訴訟，目的是要求警告咖啡消費者關(guān)于咖啡含有丙烯酰胺一事，丙烯酰胺是咖啡豆在烘焙過程中的副產(chǎn)品。本周，咖啡售賣商抗議之后，法官裁定支持這一委員會，這就意味著零售商將在法律上承擔(dān)傳遞壞消息的義務(wù)。

But how bad is it really? Because we're really not about to give up our coffee… are we? Acrylamide is formed when certain foods are cooked in certain ways, the American CancerSociety (ACS) explains. Frying, baking, broiling, and roasting at high temps can all cause areaction between sugars and an amino acid in plant products like potatoes, grains, and, yes, coffee, that creates the chemical.

但情況究竟有多糟糕?因為我們真的不會放棄咖啡的……是不是?美國癌癥協(xié)會解釋道：當(dāng)特定物質(zhì)以特定方式烹飪時，丙烯酰胺就會形成。在高溫下油炸、烘焙、燒烤會導(dǎo)致糖和植物產(chǎn)品(比如土豆、谷物和咖啡)中的一種氨基酸發(fā)生反應(yīng)，從而導(dǎo)致丙烯酰胺的形成。

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) dubs acrylamide a "probable humancarcinogen." (Bacon and other processed meats, as you might recall, were deemed definitelycarcinogenic.)

國際癌癥研究機構(gòu)(IARC)將丙烯酰胺稱為"可能致癌的物質(zhì)。"(培根和其它加工過的肉類，你可能還記得，被認(rèn)為是絕對致癌的物質(zhì)。)

Problem is, we don't really know how bad it is to consume acrylamide in food. "We know it hasa risk of causing cancer based on animal studies where they were fed very large amounts ofacrylamide and developed tumors," explains J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD, deputy chief medicaloffice at ACS. "But that's not proof-positive it causes cancer in humans. It's consideredsuggestive evidence." To get a better idea, the ACS and other groups have urged researchersto do more studies in this area, he says, but currently, "there is no well-done human study onacrylamide with respect to consumption in food."

問題是，我們不是很清楚從食物中攝入丙烯酰胺究竟有多糟糕。"基于動物研究：動物被喂食大量的丙烯酰胺，患了腫瘤，我們知道丙烯酰胺可能致癌的風(fēng)險，"美國癌癥協(xié)會副主任醫(yī)師J. Leonard Lichtenfeld醫(yī)學(xué)博士解釋道。"但這不能證明它能導(dǎo)致人類患癌。這只是啟發(fā)性的證據(jù)。"為了更好的了解，美國癌癥協(xié)會和其它組織敦促研究員在該領(lǐng)域開展更多實驗，他說道，但目前為止，"關(guān)于在食物中攝入丙烯酰胺會帶來何種影響，還未有完全成熟的人類研究。"