Eating processed meat can lead to colon cancer in humans, while red meat also is a likely cause of the disease, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said Monday in findings that could sharpen debate over the merits of a meat-based diet. The Paris-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO, put processed meat such as hotdogs and ham in its group 1 list, which already includes tobacco, asbestos, and diesel fumes, for which there is "sufficient evidence" of cancer links. "For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal [bowel] cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed," Doctor Kurt Straif of the IARC said in a statement. Red meat, which the IARC said includes beef, lamb, and pork, was classified as a "probable" carcinogen in its group 2A list that also contains glyphosate, the active ingredient in many weed-killers. The lower classification for red meat reflected "limited evidence" that it causes cancer.
