France to cut nitrites in food after agency confirms cancer risk

reuters.com

34 points·bundze··7 comments

> "If we caused microbial accidents because there are no more nitrites it would be even worse than the hypothetical risk mentioned," FICT Chairman Bernard Vallat said.

What an insane quote...

Is it? There is more and more consensus that banning DDT caused more deaths than it prevented. The world is a complex and interconnected place and decisions have direct and indirect consequences. Frankly it's refreshing to see any unintended consequences being surfaced in stories like this.

FYI - the "natural preservative" for sausage and meats is celery salt.

Guess what celery is natural high in? Nitrites.

I'm just waiting for the observation that cancer causes cancer :p

Well. It causes systemic inflammation...which probably allows opportunist cancer.

So, surely that headline will come eventually.

It's not just the cancer risk, if you have a nitrate allergy it can mess your stomach up pretty badly, naturally occurring ones seem to be ok but it's when they're added to preserve the food it's pure poison.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/472610-nitrite-nitrate-al...

Conflating nitrate with nitrite, an allergy to something that's not an antigen, a substance that's only dangerous when it's not 'natural', a website filled with clickbait.

Based on the number of red flags I'm going to have to dismiss this out of hand, sorry.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com