How did the meat industry, the government and anti-cancer organizations respond to the confirmation that processed meat, such as bacon, ham, hot dogs and luncheon meat, causes cancer?
“It is rare, in the history of nations, that finds good reasons to pay tribute to the generosity and altruism of governments and those in power: the birth of the International Agency for Research on Cancer [IARC] presents one of those rare cases.” It all started with a single letter from a grieving husband recounting his wife’s suffering after a cancer diagnosis, which turned into an open letter call for governments to devote half of 1% of their military budgets to fighting life by attacking one of the greatest plagues weighing on humanity. And 18 months later, IARC was born in the World Health Organization. What it was his primary motivation? Cancer prevention.
As I discuss in my video, IARC: Processed meat like bacon causes cancerthe IARC it is best known for his monographs, the book-sized reports evaluating whether or not a suspected carcinogen actually causes cancer. It is “in general accepted as close to a last word’ as whether something is carcinogenic or not. And his 114th monograph, published in 2018, it focused on meat. After considering more than 800 different studies and thorough review the scientific literature, a group of 22 experts from 10 countries he concluded His 500 page report saying: “Eating red meat is possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).” But processed meat was placed as a Group 1 carcinogen, the highest level of certainty, meaning that according to the best available evidence, eating processed meat causes cancer.
That within foods like bacon cause cancer. Ham, hot dogs, breakfast links and lunch meat cause cancer. But its definition also includes, for example, turkey deli slices. Especially, eating processed meat causes colon cancer, colon or rectal cancers, which it is the second deadliest cancer worldwide, after lung cancer, which is largely caused by smoking. “Colon cancer it is it’s the second leading cause of cancer death in the US,” too, and it doesn’t just affect the elderly it is also a leading cause of cancer and cancer death previously in life.
The meat industry was not happy, call it is a “dramatic and alarming overshoot”. Speaking of dramatic and alarming exaggeration, an agricultural group in Italy sent out a press release: Just say no to meat terrorism.
The gloves were off. The meat industry in Canada tested to pressure the government to cut off funding to IARC, asking the Health Minister to withdraw all funding from the organization after it dared to question the meat. The US meat industry did the same thing. Not surprisingly, the IARC it is “under siege by corporate interests” trying to challenge their cancer assessments of Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide and meat, discredit the agency and undermine financial support. For example, internal documents have was revealed Monsanto scientists “ghost-write scientific papers and suppress science that conflicts with corporate claims about the safety of Roundup.”
The chemical industry has joined the corporate cacophony, calling the IARC monographs “dubious and misleading.” These hectare classic strategies straight out of the tobacco industry. “But there it is does little to suggest that, as a corporate actor, ‘Big Tobacco’ is fundamentally different from, say, ‘Big Booze’ or ‘Big Food”.
A recurring corporate talking point it is that the IARC never met a carcinogen it didn’t like. But the vast majority end up being are categorized as just possibly carcinogenic to humans, or there really isn’t enough data to make a determination one way or the other, as you can see below and at 4:20 in my video.
Only the agency spends time to examine substances for which there is already “an existing body of scientific literature indicating a degree of carcinogenic risk to humans”. So it’s no wonder that many of them end up being, indeed, carcinogenic.
How the IARC did answer throughout the review? The World Health Organization has received questions, concerns and requests for clarification since the publication of its report on meat and cancer. Basically he answered: Hey, we never told anyone to stop eating processed meat – your body, your choice. The report just said that eating less of these products can reduce the risk of a leading cancer. So, do you like cancer? You do you.
The IARC it is just a research organization that evaluates evidence about what causes cancer. After that, what you do with that information is up to you. The American Cancer Society it was nice and clear in terms of alcohol. When it comes to cancer, “it’s best not to drink alcohol.” But the agency was a little leery of processed meat, suggesting people can get away with it simply by limiting their intake. The European Commission it was a little clearer. To reduce the risk of cancer, we should eat plenty of whole grains, legumes (beans, split peas, chickpeas and lentils), fruits and vegetables. limit sugary, fatty, salty foods. and straight up avoid soda, sausages and other processed meats. Besides, you answering when asked how much meat is safe to eat, IARC responded that it is unknown if there is a safe level, period.
Doctor’s note
So, How much cancer does processed meat cause? This video is coming next.
And, it’s not just cancer. For example, see Effects of processed meat on lung function.
I previously covered Monsanto and its Roundup pesticide (now owned by Bayer), see related posts below.
