An article by the Reuters newswire service critical of the process that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) uses to classify substances by their likelihood of causing cancer has reignited the debate over the agency’s treatment of red and processed meat, among other ingredients.
Last fall, IARC issued a ruling that placed processed meat in the category of “carcinogen” and red meat in the category of “probable carcinogen.” Following a profusion of headlines such as “Meat is the new tobacco,” IARC’s parent agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), issued a statement clarifying the findings.
In its article, Reuters raises the question of whether the scientists placed on IARC’s review panels are too often biased before the discussion begins. The process used to evaluate red and processed meat is put forth as a prominent example of how IARC’s system may unfairly categorize substances.
Reuters quotes observers, scientists and officials of IARC, WHO and other public health agencies both criticizing and defending the agency’s processes.
The entire report can be read here.