Cancer Risk Found in Coke, Pepsi: Group

U.S. regulators, reviewing an advocacy group’s complaint that a chemical used in colas causes tumors in animals, said there’s no immediate risk to consumers from the substance.
A person would have to drink more than a thousand cans of soda in a day to match the doses administered in studies that showed links to cancer in rodents, Douglas Karas, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokesman, said in a statement.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer- health group in Washington, said in a statement today that high levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole were found in drinks made by Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and PepsiCo. Inc. (PEP) The chemical is part of coloring used in colas and the subject of a study the group released today. An industry group disputed the findings.

“This is nothing more than scare tactics,” the American Beverage Association said in a statement today, calling the claims “outrageous.”
The FDA has no reason to believe consumers are in danger, the FDA’s Karas wrote in an e-mail. The agency is reviewing the group’s petition, he said.