 |
THE Government is considering banning processed meats after the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week classified the products as one of the major causes of cancer alongside cigarettes.
According to a latest WHO report, processed meats have been singled out as causing close to 34 000 cancer-related deaths per year worldwide.
Processed meat is defined as meat that has been modified to either extend its shelf life or change the taste and the main methods are smoking, curing, or adding salt or preservatives. Processed meats include bacon, sausages, hot dogs, salami, polony and ham, as well as canned meat and meat-based sauces.
According to a report from WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, there is enough evidence to rank processed meats as group one carcinogens because of a causal link with bowel, prostate and pancreatic cancer.
These recent findings come after Government announced that it is planning to introduce a law that prohibits public smoking. The proposed law will compel those found guilty of smoking in public to pay a fine of $500 or alternatively spend six months in jail.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care is now making the necessary consultations before possibly implementing the ban on the sale and consumption of processed meats.
In an interview, Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa said while they had received the report they were carrying out the necessary consultations at a local level to weigh the possibilities of the ban.
“They (WHO) are not saying processed meats are at the same level as cigarettes; the report warns on the dangers of these processed meats, which is why we will have to go over it as Government and come up with a possible way forward.
What you have to note is these decisions are not just made prematurely there are a lot of issues that have to be considered but for now the least we can do is advise people to watch what they eat and not expose themselves to food that can have effects on their health,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.
Zimbabwe Abattoirs Association president Mr Roger Tavares said while they do not deal directly in processed meats, they could confirm that the products cause cancer. He said people should desist from using spices when preparing meat because most of these spices cause cancer.
“Preservation methods are a cause for concern. It is these preservation methods that release chemicals that cause cancer. People should then stop using spices if they don’t know their effects. People should know their spices and understand them. However, a wider consultation is needed before the Government bans or put certain measures,” said Mr Taravez.
Efforts to get a comment from one of the country’s largest meat processing companies, Colcom Foods were fruitless as the company’s marketing officer, Mrs Elena Gonye, had not responded to written questions that were sent to her.
According to the WHO report, suspected carcinogenic chemicals that cause cancer can also form during processing and these include N-nitroso compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
The IARC’s experts concluded that each 50 gramme portion of processed meat eaten daily increased the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent. Fifty grammes of processed meat is the equivalent the equivalent of one sausage, or less than two slices of bacon a day.
According to the report, cancer cases are also set to increase dramatically in Africa as “meat consumption is increasing in low and middle-income countries”.
Professor Tim Key, from Cancer Research UK, supported the view by urging people, especially from low income countries, to reduce the uptake of processed food.
“If you eat lots of it you may want to think about cutting down. You could try having fish for your dinner rather than sausages, or choosing to have a bean salad for lunch over a processed food,” said Prof Key.
An increase in the uptake of processed food was topical during the African First Ladies 9th edition conference in Kenya to stop cervical, breast and prostate cancer in Africa which took place in July where it was highlighted that Africans should avoid eating processed foods.
The conference heard that there are 14 million new cancer cases accounting for 8,2 million deaths, constituting close to 13 percent of the total deaths worldwide. Seventy percent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries, the majority of which are in Africa.
Dr Ruth Labode, the Parliament Portfolio Committee chairperson on health and child care told Parliament that the meeting called upon Africans to “embrace eating habits that protect us from the wasteful disease that is cancer by eating natural foods and exercising regularly”.
Recently, the health ministry called on law enforcers to descend on public smoking offenders as they intensify a crackdown on citizens reluctant to comply with the Public Health Act (Tobacco Control) Regulation 264 of 2002 which prohibits public smoking.
Source-Sunday News
No comments:
Post a Comment