Sodium nitrite should be banned to process foods. because it toxic and carcinogenic to the body as well as harmful to the environment.
Several reputable sources and companies, have found results after research in humans and mice that sodium nitrite increases the blood cell methemoglobin which ineffectively distributes oxygen to your cells and can cause cancer when ingested due to its acute toxicity and buildup in the system. These values and studies are listed in the websites below.
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~c6HFIP:1
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sodium_nitrite#section=Safety-a...
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sodium_nitrite#section=Toxicity
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sodium_nitrite#section=Environm...