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The state of California is considering placing a warning label on french fries that state something like "this food causes cancer." Ever heard of this?:

Americans may have plenty of reasons to fear French fries. While they are one of the country's favorite foods, they are soaked with trans fats, loaded with sodium and full of simple carbs, the bad kind. And, it turns out, they are also full of a chemical called acrylamide, which is known to cause cancer in laboratory rats and mice.

That's right, acrylamide is the cancer-causing agent in french fries:

Scientists say that is because acrylamide is created, generally speaking, when the naturally occurring amino acid asparagine is heated to temperatures above 250 degrees in the presence of sugars or starches. Potatoes have a lot of both asparagine and starch, and are often fried at temperatures of up to 400 degrees.

Alise Cappel, research director at the Environmental Law Foundation, a nonprofit group that recently sued four potato chip companies over acrylamide (the suit is expected to be joined with the attorney general's), says people are increasingly eating foods with acrylamide.

"It certainly has been in the food supply for centuries, but the frying of food is a relatively new cooking technique," Ms. Cappel said. "And we're eating more cookies, crackers and breads than we ever have before."

Hmmm...something new to worry about, eh?

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