No Nitrite Ban

A cancer link is questioned

For a while, the headlines sounded like a rerun of the saccharin story: LABORATORY TESTS INDICATE COMMON FOOD ADDITIVE CAUSES CANCER ... GOVERNMENT PROPOSES BAN . .. PLAUDITS FROM CONSUMER GROUPS, PROTESTS FROM FOOD INDUSTRY .. . PUBLIC CONFUSED. But this time, the chemical in question was sodium nitrite, a preservative widely used in meat, poultry and fish. Added to $14.5 billion worth of food yearly, mostly processed items like bacon, sausages, hot dogs and cold cuts, the substance not only prevents the growth of botulism-causing bacteria but also gives these foods an appetizing pink color.

Two years ago, Paul Newberne, a food scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reported disturbing findings from a study involving almost 2,000 rats: 13% of the animals fed a nitrite-rich diet developed lymphatic cancer, compared with only 8% of rats fed normal diets. That prompted the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture to announce plans to phase out use of the substance for human consumption. Packers blasted the proposal as unnecessary and illadvised. They warned that it would lead to more cases of food poisoning and drive up costs.

The food processors apparently had a point. The Government last week announced that pathologists examining 50,000 slides of tissues taken from the rats could not confirm the study's conclusions. The reviewers found that some cell abnormalities had been mistaken for cancer and that some cancerous lesions were of a type that occurs spontaneously in rats and has no human equivalent. Thus, said the FDA and USDA, "there is no basis to initiate any action to remove nitrite from foods at this time."

Although industry groups hailed the statement, nitrite still does not have a completely clean bill of health. During cooking or digestion, the additive can combine with other chemicals to form nitrosamines, which have been definitively shown to induce cancer in laboratory animals. Consumer groups continue to fight for a ban, contending that the risks from nitrite are still unknown and that the additive is unnecessary. Says Ellen Haas, of the Washington, D.C.-based Community Nutrition Institute: "There are a lot of good bacon products on the market that are 'no nitrite,' and there has been no incidence of botulism. You just keep the food refrigerated, like milk."

The Government in the meantime intends to continue efforts to reduce nitrite use and is asking the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate all existing data about the chemical. But speaking with reporters, FDA Commissioner Jere Goyan showed a studied calm about the chemical. Until we know more about the additive, he said, "we should eat a well-balanced diet and not be concerned about moderate amounts of cured meats." As for himself, he admitted: "I had a hot dog for lunch."

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