THE recent announcement by the World Health Organisation that processed meat is carcinogenic to humans, ranking it alongside the most cancer-causing substances in the world, adds further weight to Animal Aid’s call for such products to be treated in the same way as tobacco. Numerous studies by prestigious medical organisations, including the World Cancer Research Fund, have already linked processed red meat to an increased risk of bowel cancer, which has the second-highest death toll for any form of cancer in the UK.

Since publishing the report ‘No Safe Limit’ in 2013, which examined this evidence, Animal Aid has called for processed red meat products to carry health warnings and for children and hospital patients to be protected from their carcinogenic properties As a minimum, consumers should be made aware of the risks they face by eating processed red meat, and should ideally adopt a vegan diet, which is associated with a reduced risk of bowel cancer. Free information about this can be obtained from Animal Aid.

BEN MARTIN

Animal Aid, Bradford Street, Tonbridge