The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that bacon, sausage, other processed meats, and possibly red meat, cause cancer.
A panel of 22 international experts reviewed decades of research on the connection between red meat, processed meats, and cancer. Big Ag has been readying for a response by funding its own scientists to question the WHO’s scientific findings that meats cause cancer.
“We simply don’t think the evidence support any causal link between any red meat and any type of cancer,” said Shalene McNeill, executive director of human nutrition at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. However, WHO scientists maintain that epidemiological evidence supports the theory.
“I understand that people may be skeptical about this report on meat because the experimental data is not terribly strong,” said Paolo Boffetta, a professor of Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and WHO panelist. “But in this case the epidemiological evidence is very strong.”
Considering how meat is a considerable part of the American diet, the WHO findings are likely to create much controversy. Maybe it’s time for Americans to lay off of the pork
For more on this story, visit the Washington Post “Hot dogs, bacon and other processed meats cause cancer, World Health Organization declares”
