Are Hot Dogs as Injurious as Cigarettes?

Hot Dogs are as dangerous as cigarettes, says a non-profit cancer Project president Neil Barnard.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has put up a bill board on Monday near the Indianpolis Motor Speedway with the advisory message, “Warning: Hot Dogs Can Wreck Your Health” with a picture of hot dogs sticking out of a cigarette box.

Neil Barnard had filed a lawsuit against several big processed meat producers, including Oscar Mayer and Hebrew National, insisting their products come with warning labels, in the same way cigarettes carry labels warning of lung cancer, emphysema and so on.

“A hot dog a day could send you to an early grave,” says PCRM nutrition education director Susan Levin in a press release, “Processed meats like hot dogs can increase the risk for diabetes, heart disease, and various types of cancer. Like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps racing fans and other consumers understand the health risk.”

Every year, about 143,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and approximately 53,000 die of it.

However, the meat industry believes the Committee's billboard is alarmist and unnecessary.

"This is an absurd claim," Janet Riley, president of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, told CBS News. "Trying to link a food product that has clear nutritional value with a product like cigarettes, which have no redeeming qualities, is inflammatory and alarmist."