Hot Dogs Can Increase Risk of Colorectal Cancer, Billboard Warns

A controversial billboard near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway displays a cigarette pack with a hot dog sticking out of the package indicating "Warning: Hot dogs can wreck your health."

The display was sponsored by The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

The billboard was installed to raise the awareness of a link between colorectal cancer and hot dogs.

PCRM is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C., which promotes a vegan diet, preventive medicine, alternatives to animal research, and encourages what it describes as "higher standards of ethics and effectiveness in research."

PCRM was established in 1985 by Neal D. Barnard of the George Washington University Medical School.

According to The American Institute for Cancer research, one, 50-gram piece of processed meat including hot dogs can boost the risk of colorectal cancer by up to 21 percent.

"A hot dog a day could send you to an early grave," Susan Levin, PCRM's nutrition education director, said on the organization's webpage.

According to PCRM, in 2010, over 1.1 million hot dogs were sold at the Indianapolis 500 races.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.

Roughly 143,000 people in the US are diagnosed with colorectal cancer every year and 53,000 are killed by the disease.

GLOBOCAN estimated that, in 2008, 1.23 million new cases of colorectal cancer were clinically diagnosed, and that this type of cancer killed more than 600,000 people.

PCRM also mentioned that highly processed meat consumption can increase the risk of developing childhood leukemia, ovarian cancer and diabetes type 2.