'Daily Show' Hot Dog Campaign Investigation Lambasts PCRM Stance (VIDEO)

HuffPost Food has covered the fishy scare tactics used by the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a pseudoscientific vegan advocacy group, before. The highlight so far was a billboard outside the Indianapolis Speedway that compared the health risks of hot dogs to those of cigarettes. The billboard got quite a bit of press -- it's an audacious statement, though only some of the coverage mentioned the shadiness of the PCRM. We always had a hunch there was a great piece waiting to be done on these guys. And now, thanks to the Daily Show, we have it, for your viewing above.

In the clip, correspondant Aasif Mandvi talks to representatives from the Hot Dog & Sausage Council and from the PCRM. He gets some mileage out of the former when she reveals that her nickname is the Queen of Wien, but it's really the latter who gets the brunt of his mockery.

The PCRM doctor, Neal Bernard, MD, sports the kind of bronzed complexion that gives the impression that he was too busy reading warnings on cured meats to catch up on the past few decades' worth of medical literature on tanning beds. He tries to make the argument that hot dogs are addictive -- so Mandvi, hilariously, asks him whether they're addictive like heroin, crack cocaine or The Wire.

Watch the full clip, which includes more than one shot of champion hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi, above.

Comments

[kennethlross]

08:45 PM on 11/06/2011

I have a concoction of jalapenos and vidalia onions in a bread and butter pickle juice that is absolutely fantastic on a slightly burnt Hebrew National with a toasted bun and spicy brown mustard. Wash it down with an Octoberbest by a Local Home Brewery and man, .... !!!!!

[taddles]

06:25 PM on 11/07/2011

I hate you.....now I gotta go get some HN's and find some butter pickles. ;o)

[TaxpayingVoter]

08:37 PM on 11/05/2011

Now I feel like munching down on a Hebrew National with hot mustard, sweet relish, and sauerkraut.

[sacmom3]

03:22 PM on 11/05/2011

You can have my hot dog when you pry it from my cold dead hands! (Which probably won't be too long from now)

[wildisthewind]

08:52 PM on 11/04/2011

On the one hand, I appreciate this article, but on the other hand, it's kind of bizarre considering that the board of the PCRM reads like a whose who of regular Huff Post Contributors, and pro-PCRM propaganda puff pieces are a near daily occurrence.

If only the Huff Post always had the above perspective. Instead, the Huff Post has become the PCRM's primary propaganda outlet. Most of the articles on the PCRM's agenda read as if the PCRM wrote it themselves. Instead of pointing out the facts, such as the fact that the PCRM gave itself a purposely misleading name to give it the appearance of credibility, but itn reality, it's not really a physicians organization, and only a tiny fraction of their members are physicians.

[Mirabai305]

07:12 PM on 11/06/2011

They deleted my comment saying the same thing.

[HazelPethigFan]

08:30 PM on 11/04/2011

awhhhhh...I feel so sorry for food zealots being made fun of.

[csmomo]

04:35 PM on 11/04/2011

Another bunch of BS--no one is going to eat enough hot dogs to get cancer from it.

[paxvox40]

03:30 PM on 11/04/2011

Hot dogs are pure crap, but having one once in a while isn't going to give you cancer. The big take away point here is feed your kids real hormone-free lean cuts of meat instead of carcinogen packed meat-like shavings molded into a phallic symbol and they'll be a whole lot healthier than if you rear them on a steady diet of wieners.

[Sophist FCD]

12:46 AM on 11/06/2011

Don't rear children with wieners. Got it.

[xstevejx]

05:16 PM on 11/06/2011

That's like saying all restaurants are horrible because so many of the cheapest ones (e.g. fast food ones) are.

[Food Review 101]

03:22 PM on 11/04/2011

http://www.foodreview101.com/ Gotta love that Daily Show...almost like something you would see on Colbert though.

[jsarets]

01:21 PM on 11/04/2011

We should be careful with correlation vs. causation. Eating hot dogs every day may be correlated with colon cancer, but low-fiber diets are also correlated with colon cancer, and I suspect that daily hot dog consumption is correlated with very low fiber intake. Setting aside the empirical epidemiology and considering the underlying physiology, it seems more likely that colon cancer is linked to factors such as bowel motility and intestinal flora (i.e. factors related to dietary fiber) than to any unique properties of hot dogs.

[csmomo]

04:36 PM on 11/04/2011

No one eats hot dogs every day. That is just silly. I doubt anyone is going to eat enough hot dogs for them to give him cancer.

[MagicalPossibilities]

12:52 AM on 11/05/2011

Except maybe Kobayashi... I can't imagine what his colon looks like.

[Ghostberry]

03:51 PM on 11/06/2011

Apparently you have never been to NYC or Chicago.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

12:42 PM on 11/05/2011

Ah, so what you're saying is that hot dog wieners with added fiber could actually be good for you to eat every day, or perhaps hot dogs with whole wheat buns, or maybe if some powdered metamucil were mixed with the celery salt that tops the dog.

We should legislate all three of the above!

[soyyosisoy]

01:16 PM on 11/04/2011

smoking a hot dog is bad for you....
eating one is just pure delight.

[cyoohoos]

01:10 PM on 11/04/2011

Excellent segment. Loved the little bit about the Queen of Wein

[trueorfalse]

12:53 PM on 11/04/2011

Not eating causes starvation.

[madcityy]

12:08 PM on 11/04/2011

love hot dogs......doc against dogs r nutsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss