116 things that cause cancer
Include smoking, sunbeds, arsenic, asbestos as well
as hepatitis B and C, HIV, Epstein-Barr virus,
working as painter
BACON, burgers and sausages were this
week deemed to be as big a cancer
threat as cigarettes, according to global
health chiefs.
The warning saw processed meat added
to the list of items classified as
carcingogenic to humans by the World
Health Organisation (WHO).
It means dietary favourites, including
salami, chorizo and smoked ham, rank
alongside arsenic and asbestos, when it
comes to the potential cancer risk.
Officials said just 50g of processed meat
a day – less than one sausage – increases
the risk of bowel cancer by almost a
fifth.
The report also classified red meat as
‘probably carcinogenic’ – one rank below
– but added that it had some nutritional
benefits.
Experts are now urging the public to
avoid processed meat where possible and
to have a bean salad for lunch rather
than a BLT.
Processed meat has been preserved, for
example by smoking, and includes ham
and pate, as well as burgers and mince if
they have been preserved using salt or
chemical additives.
Experts think the substances added
during processing cause cancer. These
include preservatives such as nitrates
and nitrites – as well as substantial
amounts of salt.
Fresh red meat is also strongly linked to
cancer and the WHO categorised it one
level below processed meat, as ‘probably
carcinogenic’.
But it also provides many nutritional
benefits and is high in protein, iron and
vitamin B12, which prevent tiredness
and infections.
Twenty-two experts at the WHO’s
International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC), from 10 countries, took
the decision after reviewing more than
800 studies that investigated the links
between red meat and processed meat
and various different types of cancer.
Processed meat was classified as
carcinogenic, based on sufficient
evidence in humans that consumption
causes specifically colorectal or bowel
cancer, they concluded.
The classification of red meat as
‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ was
observed mainly in relation to colorectal
cancer, but links were also seen for
pancreatic and prostate cancer.
The experts concluded that each 50 gram
portion of processed meat eaten daily
increases the risk of colorectal cancer by
18 per cent.
“For an individual, the risk of
developing colorectal cancer because of
their consumption of processed meat
remains small, but this risk increases
with the amount of meat consumed,”
said Dr. Kurt Straif, head of the IARC
Monographs Programme.
“In view of the large number of people
who consume processed meat, the global
impact on cancer incidence is of public
health importance.”
Dr. Christopher Wild, director of IARC
added: “These findings further support
current public health recommendations
to limit intake of meat. At the same time,
red meat has nutritional value.
“Therefore, these results are important
in enabling governments and
international regulatory agencies to
conduct risk assessments, in order to
balance the risks and benefits of eating
red meat and processed meat and to
provide the best possible dietary
recommendations.”
But, in light of the news, which has
attracted widespread reaction, the IARC
has revealed its list of 116 things that
can cause cancer. The list features the
known obvious culprits, tobacco smoke,
secondhand smoke, alcohol, asbestos and
arsenic, to name a few.
But, there are also a number of everyday
activities and items that feature that are
almost impossible to avoid, including the
air we breathe.
And the list also features various health
conditions, such as hepatitis B and C as
well as HIV.
Here, DailyMailUK online reveals all
those things, which are classified
alongside processed meat in the IARC’s
group one, carcinogenic to humans
category – those that definitely cause
cancer:
1. Tobacco smoking 2. Sunlamps and
sunbeds 3. Aluminium production 4.
Arsenic in drinking water 5. Auramine
production 6. Boot and shoe
manufacture and repair 7. Chimney
sweeping 8. Coal gasification 9. Coal tar
distillation 10. Coke (fuel) production 11.
Furniture and cabinet making 12.
Haematite mining (underground) with
exposure to radon 13. Secondhand
smoke 14. Iron and steel founding 15.
Isopropanol manufacture (strong-acid
process) 16. Magenta dye manufacturing
17. Occupational exposure as a painter
18. Paving and roofing with coal-tar
pitch 19. Rubber industry 20.
Occupational exposure of strong
inorganic acid mists containing
sulphuric acid 21. Naturally occurring
mixtures of aflatoxins (produced by
funghi) 22. Alcoholic beverages 23. Areca
nut – often chewed with betel leaf 24.
Betel quid without tobacco 25. Betel quid
with tobacco 26. Coal tar pitches 27. Coal
tars
28. Indoor emissions from household
combustion of coal 29. Diesel exhaust 30.
Mineral oils, untreated and mildly
treated 31. Phenacetin, a pain and fever
reducing drug 32. Plants containing
aristolochic acid (used in Chinese herbal
medicine) 33. Polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) – widely used in electrical
equipment in the past, banned in many
countries in the 1970s 34. Chinese-style
salted fish 35. Shale oils 36. Soots 37.
Smokeless tobacco products 38. Wood
dust 39. Processed meat 40. Acetaldehyde
41. 4-Aminobiphenyl 42. Aristolochic
acids and plants containing them 43.
Asbestos 44. Arsenic and arsenic
compounds
45. Azathioprine 46. Benzene 47.
Benzidine 48. Benzo[a]pyrene 49.
Beryllium and beryllium compounds 50.
Chlornapazine (N,N-Bis(2-chloroethyl)-2-
naphthylamine) 51. Bis
(chloromethyl)ether 52. Chloromethyl
methyl ether 53. 1,3-Butadiene 54. 1,4-
Butanediol dimethanesulfonate
(Busulphan, Myleran) 55. Cadmium and
cadmium compounds 56. Chlorambucil
57. Methyl-CCNU (1-(2-Chloroethyl)-3-(4-
methylcyclohexyl)-1-nitrosourea;
Semustine) 58. Chromium(VI) compounds
59. Ciclosporin 60. Contraceptives,
hormonal, combined forms (those
containing both oestrogen and a
progestogen) 61. Contraceptives, oral,
sequential forms of hormonal
contraception (a period of oestrogen-
only followed by a period of both
oestrogen and a progestogen) 62.
Cyclophosphamide 63. Diethylstilboestrol
64. Dyes metabolized to benzidine 65.
Epstein-Barr virus 66. Oestrogens,
nonsteroidal 67. Oestrogens, steroidal 68.
Oestrogen therapy, postmenopausal 69.
Ethanol in alcoholic beverages 70.
Erionite 71. Ethylene oxide 72. Etoposide
alone and in combination with cisplatin
and bleomycin 73. Formaldehyde
74. Gallium arsenide 75. Helicobacter
pylori (infection with) 76. Hepatitis B
virus (chronic infection with) 77.
Hepatitis C virus (chronic infection with)
78. Herbal remedies containing plant
species of the genus Aristolochia 79.
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1
(infection with) 80. Human
papillomavirus type 16, 18, 31, 33, 35,
39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 and 66. 81.
Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I.
82. Melphalan 83. Methoxsalen (8-
Methoxypsoralen) plus ultraviolet A-
radiation 84. 4,4’-methylene-bis(2-
chloroaniline) (MOCA) 85. MOPP and
other combined chemotherapy including
alkylating agents
86. Mustard gas (sulphur mustard) 87. 2-
Naphthylamine 88. Neutron radiation
89. Nickel compounds 90. 4-(N-
Nitrosomethylamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-
butanone (NNK) 91. N-
Nitrosonornicotine (NNN) 92.
Opisthorchis viverrini (infection with)
93. Outdoor air pollution 94. Particulate
matter in outdoor air pollution 95.
Phosphorus-32, as phosphate 96.
Plutonium-239 and its decay products
(may contain plutonium-240 and other
isotopes), as aerosols 97. Radioiodines,
short-lived isotopes, including
iodine-131, from atomic reactor
accidents and nuclear weapons
detonation (exposure during childhood)
98. Radionuclides, α-particle-emitting,
internally deposited
99. Radionuclides, β-particle-emitting,
internally deposited 100. Radium-224
and its decay products 101. Radium-226
and its decay products 102. Radium-228
and its decay products 103. Radon-222
and its decay products 104. Schistosoma
haematobium (infection with) 105. Silica,
crystalline (inhaled in the form of quartz
or cristobalite from occupational
sources) 106. Solar radiation 107. Talc
containing asbestiform fibres 108.
Tamoxifen 109. 2,3,7,8-
tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin 110.
Thiotepa (1,1’,1’-
phosphinothioylidynetrisaziridine) 111.
Thorium-232 and its decay products,
administered intravenously as a
colloidal dispersion of thorium-232
dioxide 112. Treosulfan 113. Ortho-
toluidine 114. Vinyl chloride 115.
Ultraviolet radiation and 116. X-
radiation and gamma radiation.
• Culled from http://
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/
article-3293707/Revealed-116-things-
cause-CANCER-according-world-health-
experts.
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