10/27/15 Meat Products Should Contain Cancerogenic Warning!
Reaction of Animal Friends Croatia association regarding the WHO's announcement that red meat products may be carcinogenic
- Instead of relativizing the danger of meat, health experts should encourage citizens to consume plant food
The International Agency For Research On Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has published a report that red meat products, such as hot dogs, salami and ham, and also red meat itself, may be carcinogenic, especially with regards to colon cancer. Based on analyses by more than 800 research projects into the links between cancer and the consumption of red meat products, scientists have clasified processed meat as carcinogenic for people and stressed that the fact that it is important for public health, considering the large number of people consuming red meat products. Thereby red meat and meat products can be classified in the same group as tobacco, asbestos and other cancerous materials.
This news is not new. Many reaserchers have been warning about danger of consuming meat and other animal-origin food for many years. The American Institute For Cancer Research (AICR) and World Cancer Research Fund have also concluded that regular consumption of even small amounts of meat products could increase the risk of colon cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the USA and Croatia.
In Croatia warnings from the WHO, the leading world health authority, have caused controversy and a significant amount of negativity and relativizing. As oposed to the world's experts, our media has reported health experts simply waving their hands to this news as if it were insiginificant. They are stating that we can continue to eat meat because those are just WHO's recommendations, which may shock us at first, but then we continue to live the way we always have and eat just as unhealthily as we have until now.
Instead of relativizing and reducing the importance of those recommendations, Croatian health experts should show responsibility towards citizens' health and not miss the chance of educating citizens and stressing the importance of increasing our intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes. Even though it is regularly stressed that Croatians are too fat, eat unhealthily, exercise too little and that children do not eat sufficient fruit and vegetables per day, this important warning is still not taken as a chance to improve dietary habits. However, with such inert statements, these experts are not encouraging citizens to change their nutritional habits and way of life.
Regardless of their subjective standpoint on food, health employees should be objective and promote the WHO's recommendations, which exist solely to improve public health. It is a fact that meat kills and that meat consumption causes the most lethal forms of cancer. Animal-origin food is proven to be dangerous for human health, can shorten their expected lifetime, reduce life quality and lead to the need for expensive treatment by the health system. We think that animal-origin food products should contain warnings about being carcinogenic, in the same way as with tobacco products.
A number of studies have also confirmed that plant food nutrition is proven to protect from many diseases typically associated today with meat and other animal-origin food and also helps with curing and improving even the most serious illnesses. Plant food nutrition such as cereals, legumes, fruit and vegetables enable the intake of protective substances for the ones system – nutritional fibers, minerals and vitamins to help prevent illness.
Therefore we invite health experts to promote the results of the aforementioned studies and recommendations, as well as the long-standing view of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that "appropriately planned vegetarian nutrition, including vegan nutrition, is healthy, nutritionally sufficient and ensures health benefits in prevention and curing specific illnesses".
All citizens are invited to enjoy vegan nutrition, which directly helps the animals and the planet and enables safer and healthier nutrition, thereby giving themselves a longer life.
![vegetables [ 135.33 Kb ]](/data/image_3_10100.jpg "vegetables [ 135.33 Kb ]")
