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A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 5 June 2019
Perk up: California says coffee cancer risk insignificant

By BRIAN MELLEY has declared such a brew
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cali- of chemicals safe despite
fornia officially gave its the presence of carcino-
blessing to coffee Monday, gens, Delson said.
declaring the beverage The coffee industry
does not pose a "signifi- cheered the rule.
cant" cancer risk. "This is a great day for sci-
The rule, proposed a year ence and coffee lovers,"
ago by regulators, means said William Murray, presi-
coffee won't have to carry dent and chief executive of
ominous warnings that the the National Coffee Asso-
beverage may be bad for ciation USA. "With this news,
you. coffee drinkers around the
The state took the rare world can wake up and
move after a Los Ange- enjoy the smell and taste of
les judge found Starbucks their coffee without hesita-
Corp. and other compa- tion."
nies failed to show that The Council for Education
benefits from drinking cof- and Research on Toxics,
fee outweighed risks from which successfully sued
a byproduct of the roasting the coffee industry in a
process. case that has dragged on
That ruling put the industry more than eight years in
in jeopardy of hefty civil Los Angeles Superior Court,
penalties and in the posi- will challenge the validity
tion of either developing of the state's regulation in
a process to remove the court, said attorney Rapha-
chemical or warning con- This March 30, 2018 file photo shows a Proposition 65 warning sign behind a coffee mug at a Star- el Metzger.
sumers about the risk of bucks coffee shop in Burbank, Calif. Metzger, who represents
cancer. Associated Press the small nonprofit in its
The chemical in question, lawsuit against Starbucks
acrylamide, is on a list that cals that cause cancer or Health Organization review cals that includes both car- and about 90 coffee com-
California says causes can- birth defects must warn of more than 1,000 studies cinogens and anti-carcin- panies, said the regulation
cer, though other groups consumers about those and found inadequate evi- ogens," said Sam Delson, a was adopted in violation
classify it as a "probable" risks. dence that coffee causes spokesman for the agency. of state law and disregards
carcinogen. The Office of Environmental cancer. Further, it conclud- "The overall effect of cof- the statutes the agency is
Under a law passed more Health Hazard Assessment, ed coffee reduces the risk fee consumption is not as- supposed to implement.
than three decades ago which implements the law, of some types of cancer. sociated with any signifi- He said the regulation can't
by California voters, prod- concluded there was no "Coffee is a complex mix- cant cancer risk." be applied retroactively to
ucts that contain chemi- significant risk after a World ture of hundreds of chemi- It was the first time the state nullify the judge's ruling.q

U.S. scientist sounds warning

on future Everest dangers

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA it. global warming."
Associated Press "What that means is there He said because the gla-
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) are little pieces of pollu- ciers are getting thinner
— Mount Everest and its tion that the snow is form- and smaller, it is making it
surrounding peaks are in- ing around, so the snow is more dangerous for climb-
creasingly polluted and actually trapping the pollu- ers.
warmer, and nearby gla- tion and pulling it down," All The team had been plan-
ciers are melting at an said in Kathmandu, Nepal's ning to climb both Everest
alarming rate that is likely capital. and sister peak Lhotse, but
to make it more dangerous All and his team spent crowding on Everest forced
In this photo made on May 22, 2019, a long queue of mountain for future climbers, a U.S. weeks testing snow on them to change their plans.
climbers line a path on Mount Everest. scientist who spent weeks Everest and its surrounding They climbed up to the
Associated Press in the Everest region said peaks, as well as plants on last camp at 8,000 meters
Tuesday. the foothills. (26,240 feet), the last point
Prof. John All of Western "The warming temperature the two mountains share,
Washington University said is melting the glaciers and and only reached the top
after returning from the the snow around Mount of Lhotse.
mountains that he and his Everest very quickly, so Hundreds of climbers had
team of fellow scientists what happens is even lined up on May 22 and
found there was lot of pol- when there is a storm it 23 to attempt to reach
lution buried deep in the melts in a couple of hours," Everest's summit, creating
snow, and that the snow he said. a traffic jam that is being
was surprisingly dark when "The glaciers are retreating blamed for the deaths of
they processed and filtered dramatically because of several climbers.q