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A Los Angeles judge ruled that California law requires coffee companies to carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a chemical produced in the roasting process. Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle wrote in a proposed ruling Wednesday that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show that the threat from the chemical was insignificant. (Malley, 3/29)

A California state judge in Los Angeles issued a tentative ruling in a lawsuit brought against dozens of companies, including Starbucks Corp., Target Corp., 7-Eleven Inc. and Whole Foods Market for their alleged failure to comply with the state’s required warnings. The companies failed to persuade the judge that “sound considerations of public health” support an exemption from California’s Proposition 65 warning for the chemical acrylamide in coffee. (Pettersson, 3/29)

Berle said scientists who testified on behalf of the coffee companies failed to prove that there was an acceptable level of acrylamide. Earlier in the trial, he also ruled that the coffee companies failed to show the chemical was not a significant risk or that requiring them to include the warnings would violate the 1st Amendment. "While Plaintiff offered evidence that consumption of coffee increases the risk of harm to the fetus, to infants, to children and to adults, Defendants' medical and epidemiology experts testified that they had no opinion on causation," he wrote. (Kim, 3/29)

In addition to the warning signs likely to result from the lawsuit, the Council for Education and Research on Toxics, which brought the lawsuit, has asked for fines as much as $2,500 for every person exposed to the chemical since 2002, potentially opening the door to massive settlements. Starbucks is the lead defendant in the case; others like 7-Eleven have already settled. Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Rosenberg, 3/29)

Under Proposition 65, cancer warnings already appear in places as far-ranging as apartment-building lobbies, parking garages and restaurants. Businesses must warn about the presence of any of more than 900 chemicals on a list of those known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. Acrylamide, used for industrial processes like making paper and dyes, is also created during the cooking process for many baked and fried foods, including potato chips, bread and french fries. Many of those products also contain the cancer warnings as a result of litigation. (Randazzo, 3/29)