No Cause For Cancer Alarm In Brunei Big Macs
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - While a US doctors' group on Thursday sued seven leading fast food chains including McDonald's and Burger King in the United States over the use of a "dangerous carcinogenic" substances in grilled chicken on Thursday, Brunei's chain of McDonald's in Gadong dispelled all such causes for fear here as all the meat that goes into the burgers are made in Brunei halal products.

The local suppliers of chicken and beef that provide all of the meat that go into the succulent burgers including chicken fingers are high quality time tested local companies such Golden Chicks, Mulaut Abbatoir and PDS.

Other McDonald products like apple pie, fish fillet, buns and chilli sauces are imported from Malaysia and none come from the United States, they said.

"We have no cause for alarm here," Brunei McDonald's said. "As we use the best local meat that are pure and fresh in every possible way," they said.

AFP reported that the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed suit in California "to compel the restaurants to warn unsuspecting consumers" through in-store posters and menu messages. The group said every sample of grilled chicken products from the seven national chains "tested positive for dangerous carcinogenic compound called PhIP" during analysis at independent lab.

PhIP is a carcinogenic compound called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that is found in grilled meat. In 2005, the US government officially added HCAs to its list of cancer causing agents, the doctors' group said.

"Grilled chicken can cause cancer, and consumers deserve to now that this supposedly healthy product is actually just as bad for them as high fat fried chicken," PCRM president Neal Barnard said in a statement.

"Even a grilled chicken salad increases the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer and other forms of this lethal disease," he said. Aside from McDonald's and Burger King, the chains named in the lawsuit were Chick-fil-A, Chili's, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse and TGI Friday's.

The California Restaurant Association, which represents the major chains in the richest US state, dismissed the doctors' lawsuits as groundless and politically motivated. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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