WCRF criticises meat industry over misleading public statement
World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has today accused the British meat industry of misleading the public by making factually inaccurate and potentially defamatory comments.
In a coordinated attack, the National Beef Association (NBA), the National Sheep Association (NSA) and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) have issued statements suggesting that WCRF has misled the public with its recommendations on meat.
But WCRF has responded by assuring people it continues to stand behind its recommendation to limit intake of red meat to 500g (cooked weight) per week and avoid processed meat. This is the conclusion of an independent panel of international scientists who judged the evidence that they increase bowel cancer risk to be convincing, following the biggest review of the evidence ever undertaken.
The meat lobby accuses WCRF of making mistakes – which the NBA calls "apparently tactical" - in analysing the scientific literature about the link between meat and bowel cancer and then refusing to admit to these mistakes. This is not true.
Any errors in the report were too minor to have affected the overall conclusions. These are detailed on our website at http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/?p=errors_and_omissions and have been set out in detail in letters to the meat industry.
The NFU has also claimed: "Dr Stewart Truswell, of the University of Sydney, and Dr Dominik Alexander, of Exponent, have had their review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN)."
WCRF is not aware of any such review. It is aware of Dr Truswell publishing a letter in the AJCN, which was printed with an accompanying letter from WCRF responding to his points. Dr Alexander published a review of the evidence on whether animal fats and animal proteins affect cancer risk. But this is not the same as a review of the link between meat and cancer as much animal fat and protein is dairy. WCRF is aware he has conducted a review of the evidence on the link between meat and cancer, but because this has not been published it is not in the public domain and so cannot be commented on.
Professor Martin Wiseman, Project Director of the Report, said: "These insinuations are nothing short of outrageous. The truth is that we have had open dialogue with the meat industry for many months on exactly these issues and we have given them all the information they have requested.
"I invited them to share this information with the Food Standards Agency and others. But it appears they are only interested in creating doubt in people’s minds.
"The implication that we are somehow a tool of the anti-meat lobby is ludicrous. We say explicitly that red meat has important nutritional benefits and we do not recommend avoiding it altogether.
"This report features the judgements of an independent panel. WCRF commissioned the report with money raised from the general public and therefore it was not influenced by any vested interests.
"The fact is that our report is the most comprehensive and authoritative review of the evidence that has ever been published and it found convincing evidence that red and processed meat both increase risk of bowel cancer."
Marilyn Gentry, Chief Executive of WCRF, said: "For many years WCRF has been dedicated to giving people the information they need to reduce their risk of cancer. The implication that we have deliberately inserted errors into the report is insulting not only to me personally but also to all the eminent scientists that produced and were associated with this report.
"I hope the good work we have done in educating the public about what they can do to reduce their cancer risk is not undone by these deliberately misleading statements from the meat lobby."
The full report is available for download at www.dietandcancerreport.org
