RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a new report detailing the link between eating meat and cancer.
The report found that processed meats are in the same danger category as cigarettes or asbestos when in relation to cancer.
22 scientists from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France evaluated more than 800 studies from around the world about meat and cancer. Based on that evaluation, they classified processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans” and red meat as “probably carcinogenic.”
The North American Meat Institute issued a statement in response to the WHO’s findings, citing “numerous studies” that do not show a correlation.
“Classifying red and processed meat as ‘cancer hazards’ defies both common sense and numerous studies showing no correlation between meat and cancer,” the institute’s statement read, in part.
