Cancer from meat: WHO report slammed (updated)
The World Health Organisation's report saying that processed meats cause cancer was condemned by meat-producing countries around the world yesterday.
The World Health Organisation's report saying that processed meats cause cancer was condemned by meat-producing countries around the world yesterday.
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Wednesday update
The World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer report (see below) saying that processed meats cause cancer and red meat probably does too got a swift reaction from meat-producing country's yesterday.
In yesterday's story, we heard from the US meat industry, slamming the report's credibility. Agriculture ministers from other country's quickly joined in, calling the report a "farce" and condemning the agency for frightening people.
Here is a short summary from AFP:
Australia's Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce ridicule the WHO report, saying you won't die of bowel cancer is you eat a sausage. AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY
"No, it (meat) shouldn't be compared to cigarettes and obviously that makes the whole thing a farce – comparing sausages to cigarettes," Australian Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce told national radio.
"I don't think that we should get too excited that if you have a sausage you're going to die of bowel cancer because you're not. You just don't want to live on sausages."
His Austrian counterpart, Andrae Rupprechter, echoed the sentiment.
"Placing ham on the same level as asbestos is outrageous nonsense and only serves to unsettle people," he wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
"There's no doubt for me: Austria's sausage is and remains the best."
Germany's food and agriculture minister said Tuesday that people should not be afraid of biting into a grilled bratwurst despite the World Health Organization's warning that sausages and ham cause cancer.
"No one should be afraid when eating a bratwurst," said Christian Schmidt.
"As with everything, what counts is the quantity: too much of something is always bad for health," he said in a statement.
The Australian meat industry's research and development corporation, Meat and Livestock Australia, said "promoting red meat as part of a healthy, balanced diet is important".
"Red meat such as beef and lamb is a critical, natural source of iron and zinc, vitamin B12 and omega-3 – essential nutrients needed to keep the body and brain functioning well," it said in a statement.
Tuesday's story
Sausages, ham cause cancer, red meat 'probably' too: agency
Paris, Oct 26, 2015, AFP – Sausages, ham and other processed meats cause bowel cancer, and red meat "probably" does too, a UN agency warned Monday, in a potentially heavy blow for the fast-growing livestock industry.
A review of 800 studies from around the world found "sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer," said the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
The finding, it added, supports "recommendations to limit intake of meat" – particularly in processed forms.
The category includes meat that has been salted, cured, fermented or smoked – hot dogs, sausages, corned beef, dried meat like beef jerky or South African biltong, canned meat or meat-based sauces.
For every 50 grammes of meat eaten on a daily basis, the population-wide risk of developing colon cancer was 18 percent higher, said the agency.
This meant enlarging the group of people likely to develop bowel cancer in their lifetime from six to seven out of every 100 who eat a three-rasher bacon sandwich every single day, explained statistician David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University, who was not involved in the study.
The IARC agreed the cancer risk was statistically "small", but "increases with the amount of meat consumed."
For unprocessed red meat – beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse or goat, the review found "strong" evidence of a link, but not convincing enough to place it in the group of confirmed cancer-causing agents which includes tobacco smoke, asbestos, and now also salami.
The agency cited research attributing about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide to diets high in processed meat.
This was dwarfed by the estimated one million cancer deaths attributed to tobacco smoking, 600,000 to alcohol use, and more than 200,000 to air pollution every year, said the agency.
Meat producers slammed the report, as independent experts urged caution in interpreting the numbers.
The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) said the IARC "tortured the data to ensure a specific outcome".
NAMI vice president Betsy Booren pointed to the high consumption of processed meats like salami and ham as part of the Mediterranean diet, yet "people in countries where the Mediterranean diet is followed, like Spain, Italy and France, have some of the longest lifespans in the world and excellent health."
British nutrition expert Elisabeth Lund said: "Very few people in Europe eat sufficient meat to fall into the high meat consumption category," and stressed it remained a crucial source of iron and zinc.
Ian Johnson, a Britain-based nutrition researcher, added that "there is little or no evidence that vegetarians in the UK have a lower risk of bowel cancer than meat-eaters."
