WHO probe into chips and cancer 'links'

The World Health Organisation has called an emergency summit to evaluate research that suggested that crisps and chips may cause cancer.

The three day meeting, which opens in Geneva on Tuesday, follows the publication in April of a Swedish study that some starch-based foods cooked at high temperatures contained acrylamide.

Acrylamide, used to produce plastics and dyes and to purify drinking water, has been shown to be carcinogenic in animal experiments and is suspected of causing cancer among people exposed to high levels for long periods.

Although traces of it have been found in water, its possible presence at high levels in basic foods came as a shock.

"If what we know from water and animal experiments is true, it could be a very significant source of cancer in humans. It is not just another food scare," said Jorgen Schlundt, coordinator of WHO's food safety division.

According to Mr Schlundt, this set a "world record" for the UN health agency, which usually takes about one year to organise meetings of experts to review scientific data.

He said that WHO's concern had been vindicated by subsequent studies in Norway, Britain and Switzerland, which basically backed up the findings of Sweden's National Food Administration.

A number of scientists have voiced misgivings about the validity of the Swedish results, which were based on 100 foods, and were released at a government press conference rather than passing through normal peer review procedures in a scientific journal.

Swedish government scientists estimated it could be responsible for several hundred of the 45,000 cancer cases in the country each year, based on experiments in which rats were fed fried food.

Schlundt said the type of cancers provoked by acrylamide in animals were not just limited to the digestive tract, but also included the mammary and testicular glands, and skin. But he stressed there was no evidence to suggest this could apply to humans.