Abstract
In the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Washington University in 1976, young researchers were studying the fact that the bacterial mutation rate was higher in the Ames test after the addition of liver microsomes. The effect was due to contaminants present in beef extract and in fried hamburgers as well. The communication of these results was followed by a tremendous popular and press response. The fact that potent mutagens were present in cooked meat raised the possibility that they could play a role in the induction of cancer. This prompted greater scientific interest on the topic increasing scientific articles from a few to several hundred per year. The original observation was then forgotten and after twenty years heterocyclic amines, formed in hamburgers during frying, are known to be involved in the induction of the most common human cancers.
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