On 24 October 2015, the scientific agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) called the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC, publicly evaluated (http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/) that the consumption of red meat and processed meat can cause cancer. The research group composed of 22 experts from 10 different countries, assumed that the consumption of processed meat is carcinogenic (ability to cause cancer) and red meat as a potential carcinogen in humans.
The reaction of the public in many countries was significant given the demands for clarification they addressed to the WHO.
Despite broad public reaction, this news is not new. IARC, the 50 years experience WHO agency, has recommended since 2002 that moderate consumption of meat may reduce the risk for cancer (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2015/processed-meat-cancer/en/).
In this regard, various health and environmental organizations have conducted public campaigns from years raising attention on the impact of meat-based diet and health problems. Their campaigns had formal scientific arguments of the time. Years ago, the scientific panel consisting of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) stated finding evidence on the link between cancer and diet. They suggested that “the diet that contains sufficient amounts of diverse vegetable and fruit will prevent 20% or more the appearance of all types of cancer.”
In Albania, the Institute for Environmental Policy has developed a series of public events with this theme starting from 2009, as the promotional campaign of the healthy plant based diet, meetings with young people, publications, conferences on breast and colon cancer and the diet implication, with new medicine professionals etc.
Recent public expression of WHO confirms once again that consumers should be particularly careful when consuming food products to prevent dangerous diseases to him and his family.
Albanian WHO public announce: http://vizionplus.al/7pa5-raporti-i-obsh-se-29-tetor-2015/
