Hamburger cancer study protested
*
CHICAGO - Both the
American Farm Bureau and
the National Livestock and
Meat Board have leveled
criticism at a study which
claims hamburgers
prepared at certain tem
peratures may cause can
cer. In separate statements
issued here last week, both
organizations charged that
the study drew its con
clusions from un
substantiated and in
complete data.
Dr, Barry Commoner,
director of the Center for the
Biology of Natural Systems,
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Washington University, St.
Louis, Mo., released the
controversial study to the
press last week.
American Farm Bureau’s
president Allan Grant ac
cuses Commoner of taking a
“cheap shot” at the beef
industry with his “ham
burger cancer scare news
release,” and claims it was
designed to raise research
money.”
Grant said the news
release was premature and
unwarranted, based on the
flimsy preliminary findings
by St. Louis scientists.
“There does not appear to
be evidence that con
sumption of hamburger -
regardless of the method it is
cooked - has caused an
increase in cancer in
humans,” Grant said in a
letter to Dr. Commoner
requesting documentation of
the research that led to the
news release. “In fact,
statistics on hamburger
consumption and the in
cidence of stomach cancer in
humans support just the
opposite point of view.”
The paper on which the
news release was based was
presented by Dr. Commoner
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at the annual meeting of the
American Society of
Microbiologists in Las
Vegas. Commoner is a well
known consumer advocate
Grant said the hamburger
cancer scare tactic ob
viously was a ploy to attract
additional research funding
for Dr. Commoner’s group, a
fact readily acknowledged m
a Las Vegas news con
ference by one of Dr.
Commoner’s associates, Dr.
Piero Dolara.
The AFBF president
called the whole episode
irresponsible and the sort of
thing that could do
“irreparable harm to the
beef industry.”
Despite widespread
publicity giving this im
pression, Commoner’s
research does not establish a
hamburger-cancer link,
according to David H.
Stroud, president of the
National Livestock and Meat
Board.
Stroud observed that in
cidence of cancer of all types
- except lung cancer - have
either been decreasing or
showing little change over
the past 25 years, according
to 1978 data from the
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American Cancer Society.
During this same period
there has been a dramatic
increase in beef and ham
burger consumption.
The study showed that, in
certain instances, frying
hamburgers to well-done
temperatures could produce
substances shown to cause
“mutagens” or genetic
changes in bacteria. Stroud
noted that the research
paper itself acknowledged
that these mutagens have
yet to be examined or fur
ther tested to determine if
they may be potential
cancer-causing agents.
After analyzing the full
research paper with other
industry experts, Stroud
stated that data linking
hamburger frying to cancer
were: “...presumptive,
conjectural and, at the
moment, merely part of an
interesting hypothesis,”
“The study itself was
apparently limited to testing
hamburger frying using only
certain types of electrical
appliances,” said Stroud.
In a letter to Dr. Com
moner, Stroud said, “Our
people and probably others
in the industry should visit
Omaha Standard
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 27,1978
with you as soon as possible
in regard to these in
terpretations which we find
unpersuasive.”
The Meat Board also was
critical of the manner in
which the study was
released prior to the
presentation of the paper at
the American Society for
Performance
ram sale nears
HARRISBURG - Penn
sylvania Agriculture
Secretary Kent D.
Shelhamer reminded far
mers that the state’s Second
Performance Tested Ram
Sale will be held June 3, at
the Agriculture Depart
ment’s Meat Animal
Evaluation Center in
University Park at 2 p.m.
Shelhamer said that
careful selection of a new
stud ram is a very important
part of overall flock
management. “In fact,” he
said, “it is probably the most
important smgle factor when
determining what will
happen to the genetic
potential of a flock.
“The number one goal of
the sheep industry must be
to increase the genetic
potential of sheep to
produce. The genetic
potential sets the upper
limits which can be obtained
from feeding and
management.”
According to Shelhamer,
approximately 87 per cent of
the genetic make-up of a
lamb comes from the last
three generations of lambs
used. The traits of most
concerns in both commercial
and purebred sheep
production but be those of
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Microbiology convention in
Las Vegas this week. Stroud
said the study was “An
nounced and distributed with
news releases and hoopla as
though it were a
breakthrough, and smacks
more of a promotion cam
paign than a scientific
paper.”
the most economic im
portance.
“The importance of
growth is obvious,” the
Secretary said. “Increased
growth rates mean a shorter
feeding period, because
sheep gaining weight faster
normally convert feed more
efficiently.
“However, we also must
be concerned about the
composition of this growth.
Seventy-five to eight-five per
cent of the differences ob
served in the retail yield of
lamb carcasses are due to
differences in fat trim. It is
important to know if the gain
is in the form of fat or
muscle.”
All rams selling in Penn
sylvania’s Second Per
formance Tested Ram Sale
will be ultrasonically
scanned for fat thickness
and loin eye area to give the
buyer an idea as to com
position of weight gain and
how one ram compares to
another in this category.
Individual performance
records will be available on
all rams in this sale.
“Too many people
evaluate the value of a ram
by his cost, pedigree, or
show winnings rather than
his performance,”
Shelhamer said. “The
Pennsylvania sheep industry
must concentrate its efforts
on more efficient production
of a high quality product.”
The Second Performance
Tested Ram Sale is spon
sored by the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture
in cooperation with the Penn
State and the Pennsylvania
Sheep and Wool Growers
Association.
Red meat
down
HARRISBURG - Red
meat production in Penn
sylvania during April 1978
totaled 84.3 million pounds,
down two per cent from a
year earlier according to the
Pennsylvania Crop
Reporting Service.
Cattle slaughter at 76,000
head was down eight per
cent from a year earlier;
sheep and lamb slaughter at
9,100 head were down 32 per
cent. Calf slaughter at 29,700
head was up three per cent
and hog slaughter at 230,900
head was up four per cent.
Commercial red meat
production for the United
States in Aprd 1978 totaled
3.1 billion pounds, down four
per cent from April 1977.
Beef production was down
four per cent, veal
production down 15 per cent,
pork production down two
per cent, and lamb and
mutton production declined
19 per cent.
45