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Team won’t put warning label on huge burger

Doctors group says minor-league team should warn fans it's unhealthy

Image: Big burger
Rex Larsen / AP
Josh Kowalczyk, an intern with the West Michigan Whitecaps, in Comstock Park, Mich. poses for a photo with a huge hamburger. The $20 burger will feature a sesame-seed bun made from a pound of dough, five 1/3-pound beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips.
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updated 10:29 p.m. ET March 31, 2009

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The West Michigan Whitecaps say they have no plans to put a warning label on an enormous new hamburger they’re selling this season — despite a vegan advocacy group’s request to do just that.

Susan Levin, a staff dietitian for the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, sent a letter to the Grand Rapids minor-league team on Tuesday. She’s asking that the 4,800-calorie burger be labeled a “dietary disaster” that increases the risk of cancer and heart disease.

The 4-pound, $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips — all on an 8-inch bun.

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Whitecaps spokesman Mickey Graham says the burger is a gimmick that’s being promoted as a very unhealthy menu item.

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