Hot Dogs Strike Out at All-Star Game and in New Jersey

Hot Dogs Strike Out at All-Star Game and in New Jersey
“Warning: Hot Dogs Can Strike You Out—For Good.” That's the message thousands of baseball fans saw on the Cancer Project’s provocative highway billboard as they flocked to the 2009 All-Star Game. Days later, the nonprofit filed a lawsuit in New Jersey asking hot dog manufacturers for a similar warning on product packaging.
The 48-foot-wide digital billboard posted outside Busch Stadium in St. Louis featured an image of hot dogs jammed into a cigarette pack labeled “Unlucky Strike.” The billboard is part of a campaign to persuade Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig to put a “dietary disaster” warning label on hot dogs served at Busch Stadium and other Major League Baseball stadiums because processed meats have been convincingly linked to colorectal cancer.
“Baseball stadiums need to be frank about the cancer risk posed by hot dogs and other processed meats,” says Krista Haynes, R.D., a dietitian for the Cancer Project, an affiliate of PCRM. “Just as tobacco causes lung cancer, processed meats are linked to colon cancer. Like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps baseball fans and other consumers understand the health risk.”