The International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) recent report suggesting processed and red meat causes cancer may be part of a wider agenda to slash carbon dioxide emissions in the hope of preventing global warming, according to National Center Risk Analysis Director Jeff Stier and food writer Julie Kelly.
A report published Oct. 26 concluded meats like ham, bacon and sausages are dangerous enough to be classified as group one carcinogens while red meat is in the second most dangerous group – 2A – as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Processed meat has been cooked or altered to change the taste or preserve the meat. Most processed meats have either been cured, smoked or had salt or preservatives added. Researchers from 10 different countries agree that a 50-gram portion of processed meat, equivalent to two strips of bacon, eaten daily raises the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent.
The IARC also said the evidence linking red meat to colorectal and pancreatic cancer is limited but enough to justify its new group two A status, which includes DDT and the human papillomavirus. Critics bitterly contest these claims.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Stier and Kelly argue, “the evidence linking red meat and colorectal cancer is unconvincing,” and that the report made barely any reference to other cancers like stomach and prostate cancer.
The IARC examined more than 800 epidemiological studies on the relationship between cancer and red meat. Stier and Kelly point out that the report’s authors themselves say “positive associations were seen with high versus low consumption of red meat in half of those studies,” which is far from conclusive.
The report concedes as much, with the authors writing that “there is limited evidence for the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat.” Even the risk of colorectal cancer, which the IARC appears more confident in asserting, remains “dubious” according to Stier and Kelly.
Citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Stier and Kelly observe that only two percent of 40-year-olds will contract colorectal cancer over the next 30 years.
According to the study, the risk of contracting colorectal could rise to 2.4 percent for those 40-year-olds who eat as much as 16-ounces of bacon every week. The bottom line being the chances of getting cancer from eating processed meats is still remarkably low.
But there could be a more sinister aspect to the report, say Stier and Kelly. The World Health Organization, which oversees the IARC, has called on national governments to impose higher taxes on foods that have a large carbon footprint such as beef, to discourage consumers from buying them.
“Now climate busybodies can shout that meat causes cancer and is as bad for the person eating it as it is for the planet,” write Stier and Kelly.
“In other words, meat is a double threat that governments should contain. Hang on to your T-bones and sausages, folks.”
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