"The proposed regulation would state that drinking coffee does not pose a significant cancer risk, despite the presence of chemicals created during the roasting and brewing process that are listed under Proposition 65 as known carcinogens," the agency said in a statement. State health officials proposed a regulation change Friday, June 15, 2018, that would declare coffee doesn't present a significant cancer risk, countering a recent California state... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — California officials, having concluded coffee drinking is not a risky pastime, are proposing a regulation that will essentially tell consumers of America's favorite beverage they can drink up without fear. “Extensive scientific evidence” shows that “drinking coffee has not been shown to increase the risk of cancer and may reduce the risk of some types of cancer,” said the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. It requires businesses to notify the public when their products, or any substances they release into the environment, contain ingredients that have been shown to cause cancer or birth defects. The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, better known as Proposition 65, requires warning labels for about 900 chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects. The National Coffee Association, the trade group for the industry that generates more than $40 billion a year in revenue nationwide, denies that coffee contains any ingredient at carcinogenic levels, including acrylamide. If the regulation is adopted, it would be a huge win for the coffee industry which faces potentially massive civil penalties after recently losing an 8-year-old lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that could require scary warnings on all coffee packaging sold in California. Attorney Raphael Metzger, who won the court case on behalf of The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, said he was shocked the agency would move to nullify the court decision and undermine its own report more than a decade ago that drinking even small amounts of coffee resulted in a significant cancer risk. The unprecedented action Friday by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to propose a regulation to clear coffee of the stigma that it could pose a toxic risk followed a review of more than 1,000 studies published this week by the World Health Organization that found inadequate evidence that coffee causes cancer.
– California officials, having concluded coffee drinking is not a risky pastime, are proposing a regulation that will essentially tell consumers of America's favorite beverage they can drink up without fear, per the AP. The unprecedented action Friday by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to propose a regulation to clear coffee of the stigma comes three months after a judge ordered coffee sellers in the state to warn customers that coffee poses a cancer risk. But “extensive scientific evidence” shows that “drinking coffee has not been shown to increase the risk of cancer and may reduce the risk of some types of cancer,” declared the state office, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. If the regulation is adopted—the first step is a period of public comment—it would be a huge win for the coffee industry. That's because the industry faces potentially massive civil penalties after losing an 8-year-old lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that could require scary warnings on all coffee packaging sold in California. The state agency implements a 1986 law that requires warnings of chemicals known to cause cancer and birth defects. One of those chemicals is acrylamide, a byproduct of coffee roasting and brewing present in every cup of joe. In March, Judge Elihu Berle found that Starbucks and other coffee roasters had failed to show that benefits from drinking coffee outweighed any risks. Big Coffee didn't deny that acrylamide was found in the coffee, but argued it was only found at low levels and was outweighed by other benefits such as antioxidants that reduce cancer risk. The state office agrees.