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Firing up the barbecue can be as dangerous as lighting a cigarette, according to a new billboard which reads, “Warning: Hot dogs can wreck your health.” This statement, along with a photograph of hot dogs in a cigarette pack, currently stands near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where 1.1 million of the meat products were served last year. It was created by the Cancer Project of the group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit that encourages, among other things, an “all plant diet” to prevent and treat disease.

A London Metropolitan Police dog handler has reportedly tried to kill himself after two police dogs he left in the back of his car on one of the hottest days of the year died. British media is reporting that Sergeant Ian Craven jumped from a colleague’s vehicle and later slashed his wrists when he learned that the two dogs had died. In an interview with the Toronto Star on Tuesday, the police force refused to confirm whether those reports were true. The two dogs, a Belgian Malinois named Chay and a five-month-old German shepherd puppy called Milly, died Sunday after...

Good News for Meat Lovers: Most Ready-to-Eat Meat Products Contain Very Few Cancerous Compounds, Study Finds ScienceDaily (Mar. 23, 2011) — If given the choice between eating a hot dog or enjoying some rotisserie chicken, consider the hot dog. That's because hot dogs, as well as pepperoni and deli meats, are relatively free of carcinogenic compounds, according to Kansas State University research. But it's a not-so-happy ending for bacon and rotisserie chicken -- especially chicken skin -- because both have higher levels of cancerous material.

CLAIRTON, Pa. -- Police in Clairton said a man was stabbed following a fight with his friend over hot dogs. Charles Westbrook was stabbed in the right leg early Sunday morning at a home on Miller Avenue, police said. According to police reports, Westbrook was at a friend's house when he made two hot dogs. The friend became furious that Westbrook ate the two hot dogs and began fighting with him, police said. Westbrook was rushed to UPMC Mercy Hospital for treatment. His condition has not been released.

ORANGEBURG, N.Y-- Police in a suburb northwest of New York City are searching for a stolen hot dog stand. Owner Fred Martucci tells the Journal News that he's devastated over the loss of "Fred's Franks." He used the 10-foot-long, 7-foot-wide stainless steel trailer to support his family in Orangeburg for more than a year. .. the hot dog heist happened on the evening of Sept. 30.

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- Authorities have arrested a Fort Pierce man accused of trying to steal a $6.99 jumbo pack of hot dogs from a Treasure Coast supermarket. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said Allan Polhemus, 52, was arrested on a theft charge. According to the incident report, an employee spotted Polhemus stuff a Publix 16-pack of jumbo hot dogs in his pants and walk out of the store.

Believe it or not, the government is about to regulate the shape of hot dogs. Bureaucrats at the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are studying how to change the shape of hot dogs to prevent youngsters from choking. As a result, recent headlines have warned about "killer hot dogs" and "Doctors urging for a safer, choke-free hot dog." It's true that compared to some other foods, hot dogs seem to present a slightly higher risk. Of the 66 to 77 choking deaths for children younger than 10 in 2006, hot dogs...

You may have seen a warning this week from the American Academy of Pediatrics that hotdogs need to be “redesigned” by manufacturers because their current shape is a potentially lethal choking hazard for children. It is, according to Dr. Gary Smith, the lead author of the report, “the perfect plug for a child’s airway.” As a result, U.S. pediatricians are calling on hotdog manufacturers to put a warning label on hotdogs to explain the choking risk, or better yet recall them as the highest risk food until they can be redesigned to reduce the choking hazard. I suppose the American...

The Dome Dog, the $5 quarter-pound, all-beef, grilled-not-steamed favorite of Minnesota Twins fans for 10 years, won't be called up to the bigs at the new Target Field. Hormel, whose hot dogs have been a beloved dining option at the Metrodome, will no longer supply them for the team, Twins and Hormel officials said Wednesday. Of the 1.1 million sausages sold at Twins games last year, nearly 400,000 were Dome Dogs, more than any other single sausage product. "Hormel and the Twins decided to part ways after a great ... corporate relationship" that began in 2001, team spokesman Kevin Smith...

The American Academy of Pediatrics said this week that foods such as hot dogs and chewing gum should have warning labels because they can pose a choking hazard to young children. Another suggestion was to change the shape, including finding a new look for hot dogs. But Eric Hummel, the marketing director for Hummel Brothers Meat Products, told National Public Radio that because of how a hot dog is made -- with a meat mixture pushed through an emulsifier -- there's really no other shape that could be used. He said that making a patty shape would basically be the...

CHICAGO – When 4-year-old Eric Stavros Adler choked to death on a piece of hot dog, his anguished mother never dreamed that the popular kids' food could be so dangerous. Some food makers including Oscar Mayer have warning labels about choking, but not nearly enough, says Joan Stavros Adler, Eric's mom. The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees. The nation's largest pediatricians group is calling for sweeping changes in the way food is designed and labeled to minimize children's chances for choking.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez took a little break from Sunday's game against the Raiders to enjoy a delicious Oakland hot dog. During the final minutes of the game, CBS cameras caught the USC alum chowing down. "I wasn't feeling very good and didn't eat much before the game, so I was feeling a little queasy," Sanchez told the Associated Press. "Toward the end of the game, I probably should have eaten one of those bars or something, but someone offered (a hot dog), so I grabbed it and tried to be discreet about it, but obviously not discreet enough. So...

MARKHAM, Ill. (AP) -- Two decades after customers clamored to buy cocaine from a teenager named John Cappas, they're lined up again to buy what he has to sell: Hot dogs. The one-time "drug kingpin," as the newspapers called him in the late 1980s, this summer became an owner of a hot dog stand called Johnny's WeeNee Wagon.

Three New Jersey residents plan to file a lawsuit today that could put the staple of the great American backyard cookout -- the hot dog -- on the same path as the once romanticized puff on a cigarette. Pointing to "landmark" research showing a heightened risk of colon cancer in people who consume processed meat, the class-action lawsuit in state Superior Court in Newark will target the makers of Nathan's, Oscar Mayer, Ball Park, Hebrew National and Sabrett franks as if they were Big Tobacco. The plaintiffs want labels on hot dogs to read, "WARNING: CONSUMING HOT DOGS AND OTHER...

The suit, by a group that promotes a meat-free diet, seeks to require cancer-risk labels on processed meats. Nutrition experts say foods that go along with the hot dog may be more dangerous.

OCEAN CITY--This summer Americans will eat about 7 billion hot dogs, and a good amount of those will be consumed on the 4th of July alone! So, for this week's edition of a Taste of the Jersey Shore, Phaedra Laird heads off the boardwalk to see what makes the franks at The Hot Dog Hut such a popular choice. "We can bust out some dogs pretty quick now," said Angela "Ang" Casaleno, owner and operator of the Hot Dog Hut, where they're giving a new meaning to the phrase the dog days of summer. They're cranking out franks as fast...

The United States on Wednesday withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend U.S. Independence Day celebrations on July 4, a symbolic step to protest the Iranian government's crackdown on demonstrators. The State Department, breaking with long-standing practice, had invited Iranian diplomats to attend parties at U.S. embassies around the world. Washington's outreach to its old foe was part of President Barack Obama's efforts to coax Iran into negotiations over its disputed nuclear program. The decision to rescind the invitations was also symbolic since no Iranian diplomats had actually responded to them. "Not surprisingly, based on what we see going on...

Here’s some great footage from that panel discussion between Alice Waters, Anthony Bourdain, and Duff Goldman. Waters sets Bourdain up for the kill when she says, “You can have the hot dog on the train, but you better ask them where you got the hot dog. I want to know that it’s a grass-fed beef hot dog. That’s what’s important. Where did the bun come from? Where did the flour come from?” And then Bourdain moves in: “Is it a good hot dog? That’s all I want to know … I don’t think the personal health and purity of my...

Both local teams lost the openers at their new stadiums -- the Mets to the Padres on Monday 6-5, and the Yankees to Cleveland on Thursday 10-2 -- but they scored points with their efforts to give New York baseball fans a lot more than franks and beer to feed themselves and their loyalty. Like the Mets, the Yankees have devoted vast space to a vastly improved string of food purveyors in an area with a full view of the diamond. And like those at Citi Field, many of the stalls at the new Yankee Stadium are operated by trademark...

The girls are more than 50 years older now, as are their husbands, and they are still all best friends and business partners. "It's like a four-way marriage," said Toni D'Innocenzio. "We have our ups and downs, but mostly, it's been a lot of fun." "And if you have to know, I'm still the youngest," said Maria Bruno. They've known each other since forever. The boys went to Central High together, and got manufacturing jobs at ITT in Clifton after high school, wiring phone equipment. A strike in 1957 changed everything. Enrico Bruno looked at Dominick D'Innocenzio and said, "Let's...