Experts urge RFK Jr. to ban misleading ‘no artificial nitrites’ labels as U.S. campaign launches

We’re proud to launch our U.S. campaign today — and honored to welcome Professor Loïc Le Marchand as a supporter.

Professor Le Marchand, a leading cancer epidemiologist at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, is internationally recognized for his work on diet and cancer risk. Notably, he co-authored the World Health Organization’s 2015 IARC report linking nitrite-cured meats to cancer.

Today, he joins fellow experts — Professor Robert Turesky and Professor Dariush Mozaffarian — in urging U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to take action.

Together, we are calling for a ban on misleading labels such as “no artificial nitrites” and “naturally cured” on meat products that use vegetable-derived nitrites like celery juice or beet extract. These additives can form the same harmful compounds as synthetic nitrites — yet consumers are often misled by the labeling.

While other jurisdictions prohibit this practice - and have even banned ‘natural nitrites’ from being added to meat altogether, which we welcome - it remains legal in the U.S. We believe American consumers deserve the same level of transparency and protection from preventable disease.

📄 Read the full letter to Secretary Kennedy here.