Dietary acrylamide may not cause cancer

High levels of the presumed carcinogen acrylamide in foods such as chips, crisps, and bread do not seem to raise the risk of cancers of the large bowel, bladder, and kidney, a study into the effects of the chemical has said (British Journal of Cancer 2003:88,84-9).

Acrylamide was classified as a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1994, largely based on evidence from animal models where in which there is a dose-response relation between the chemical and cancer at multiple sites.

In April 2002, public health doctors and the public became alarmed …