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California says chemicals in coffee aren't a significant cancer risk

Coffee
Photo: Mauricio Valenzuela/picture alliance via Getty Images

California will no longer require a cancer warning on coffee, after an exception based on a finding from California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment was finalized on Monday.

Catch up quick: Last year, a California judge ruled that coffee in the state had to carry a cancer warning label — based on a 2010 lawsuit. Now California has determined that coffee does not contain enough acrylamide, a chemical produced when coffee is roasted, to be listed with a cancer warning under Proposition 65. Coffee's exemption to Proposition 65 will go into effect Oct. 1.

Context: The World Health Organization found "inadequate evidence that drinking coffee causes cancer, based on a review of more than 1,000 studies" in 2018, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Go deeper: New data shows ACA reduced racial disparities in cancer treatment access

Editor's note: The headline has been corrected to delete the claim that a California judge had ruled that chemicals in coffee aren't a significant risk.

Cancer