Thursday, August 28, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) - A new attack ad on TV doesn't target a political
candidate, but something else considered quintessentially American:
hot dogs.

The ad shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria.

One little boy said: "I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer."

But the boy doesn't have cancer. Neither do two other kids in the ad who claim to be afflicted. The commercial's pro-vegetarian
sponsors say it's a dramatization that highlights research linking processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting
colon cancer.

But that connection is based on studies of adults, not children,

Several nutritionists familiar with the ad said hot dogs aren't exactly a "health food," but eating one every now and then probably won't hurt you.

Americans as a whole eat hot dogs more than occasionally. According to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, U.S. consumers spent more than 4 billion dollars on hot dogs and sausages last year.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)