Processed Meat Can Actually Cause Cancer --Madeleine Norton, 4th period

Although known worldwide as fatty foods only to be eaten on occasions, it's a bit scary for one to consider the fact that they could get cancer by indulging insistently on burgers and hot dogs.

A recent discovery made by the scientists of the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that meats such as sausage, ham, and even bacon (otherwise referred to as processed meat or red meat) are a cause to cancer in a vast number of cancer victims. However, the WHO also stressed meat's health benefits, and also claimed that the study has limited evidence and must be extended for further research and reliability. 

 

BBC News explains in the related article, "It is the chemicals involved in the processing which could be increasing the risk of cancer. High temperature cooking, such as on a barbecue, can also create carcinogenic chemicals. In the UK, around six out of every 100 people get bowel cancer at some point in their lives. If they were all had an extra 50g of bacon a day for the rest of their lives then the risk would increase by 18% to around seven in 100 people getting bowel cancer. 'So that's one extra case of bowel cancer in all those 100 lifetime bacon-eaters,' argued Sir David Spiegelhalter, a risk professor from the University of Cambridge."

 The WHO continues to spread awareness concerning the issue by analyzing statistics that are easy to understand and truly grasp the manner of the issue at hand. For example:

Red meat risk in context: 21% of bowel cancers are caused by processed or red meat while 86% of lung cancers are caused by tobacco. Respectively, 19% of all cancers caused by tobacco compared to 3% of all cancers ascribed to red/processed meat.

 

 This well alludes to the past in the discoveries and innovations of the Antebellum period and era between 1790 to pre-Civil War. If you think about the people involved in the discovery and the citizen's reactions to such changes in things (such as the Temperance Movement or Dorothea Dix's assessment to the Massachusetts legislature of the mistreatment of the mentally ill), various reactions probably occurred, as is happening now. "But this is the way I've always lived!" "Should we really change our methods of selling our product just because some doctor or scientist has come along announcing a better way to go about doing things?" The acceptance of change is somewhat difficult, especially if it affects the lifestyle you live (or in this instance, the food you eat). However, I find that--similarly to the historical period mentioned above--certain people will find this news appalling or refuse to change their eating habits. But in the end I think we'll find that change is inevitable and hopefully consuming less red meat will help our overall health.

(For more information about the article concerning processed meat health care the article is linked here: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34615621)