Livestock groups are disputing the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer report claiming red and processed meats have the potential to cause colon cancer in humans. The agency puts the cancer risk for red meat in the same group as the herbicide glyphosate, which EPA says is safe. They put processed red meat in the same category of risk as smoking cigarettes. However, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Philip Ellis says the study is not science based and lacks transparency.

Ellis says the most negative effect of this report is that it confuses consumers.

He says it’s critical all consumers check out the facts about red meat and one avenue to do that is the Facts About Beef.com website.

The IARC reviewed some 80 studies and estimated 50 grams of processed meat eaten daily boosts the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent. However, the study failed to compare cancer risk for products in a given category limiting its value versus smoking studies. Some 1 million cancer deaths a year globally are due to tobacco, just 34,000 are blamed on diets high in processed meat.