CNN - After careful deliberation of the World Health Organization with scientists and representatives from 10 nations, at last, conclusions have been made: Processed meat can lead to bowel cancer; bacon, along with other red meat, is a likely cause of the disease.
The France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), associate of WHO, listed processed meat (e.g. hot dogs, hams) in its blacklist of dangerous substances that cause cancer. On the other hand, red meat like bacon, beef and lamb, are identified as "probable" carcinogens.
However, even before these announcements came, as related by the Financial Times, the global meat industry has set itself to reject WHO's ruling. It has been expected that the meat industry will be greatly affected by the new regulation. Retaliating against IARC's finding regarding red and processed meat, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) called the international agency as "dramatic" and "alarmist".
Barry Carpenter, president of NAMI, claims that red and processed meat pose some level of theoretical 'hazard'. Another pro-red meat, Robert Pickard of UK's Meat Advisory Panel (MAP) adds that avoiding red meat does not help protect an individual against cancer. According to him, it depends on a person's lifestyle choice whether he or she will follow a meat-free diet. Contrary to IARC's findings, dietician Carrie Ruxton of MAP, suggests that women, girls and pre-school children may eat more red meat to get more nutritional benefits.
UK's Institute of Food Research's Professor Ian Johnson emphasizes that IARC's claims were poorly defined because he finds it inappropriate to compare the effect of bacon and sausages to the hazards of tobacco smoke-which has been greatly know to be highly carcinogenic.
The two opposing sides put the bacons-for-breakfast lovers in a critical, confusing situation. To eat, or not to eat bacon - that is the question.
