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| Yes, this is a real billboard outside of Las Vegas. |
Every
couple of years, some university, health organization, lobbying group, or
research body releases results stating that something causes cancer. Sometimes those
finding are reversed or amended but lately the list seems to just keep getting
longer and longer. Today, there were a number of things added to that ‘confirmed’
cancer list when the United Nations World Health Organization released their findings which
stated that processed meats cause cancer. The
Associated Press summed up the announcement pretty succinctly by stating the
following:
The World
Health Organization threw its global weight behind years of experts' warnings
and declared Monday that processed meats raise the risk of colon and stomach
cancer and that red meat is probably harmful, too.
Meat producers are angry, vegetarians are feeling
vindicated, and cancer experts are welcoming the most comprehensive
pronouncement yet on the relation between our modern meat-eating lifestyles and
cancer.
The WHO's
International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, analyzed decades
of research and for the first time put processed meats in the same danger
category as smoking or asbestos. That doesn't mean salami is as bad as
cigarettes, only that there's a confirmed link to cancer. And even then, the
risk is small.
Of
course, as I originally stated, these are only the most recent additions to a
long list of things found in everyday life that will give you cancer. While
many of the obvious chemicals and addictive habits are listed, there are also
items that we encounter every day that would have a hypochondriac hyperventilating
each morning when they open their eyes. Basically, if you are a smoker who eats
red meat and works in the automotive, construction, wood working, or tanning
industry (or does any of those as a hobby) you should be dead in about 48
hours. Heck, pretty soon they will probably find that laying down while
sleeping causes cancer.
And
things are only going to get worse as was reported today
by Bloomberg Business:
Next year the WHO
is likely to make headlines again. In addition to evaluating several industrial chemicals, it is
revisiting two beverages that, like meat, are dietary staples for millions: Hot
mate, a traditional caffeinated drink popular in Latin America, and—brace
yourself—coffee.
So,
how can we sum up these findings? What would give a full picture of the hazards
found in modern day life? I think it is best put by saying that living will
kill you. Sure, you can avoid all the things that the WHO lists and that
doctors try to steer you away from but if you do that what kind of life are you
going to live. We can’t avoid everything that the “experts” say will cause
cancer, the only thing we can do is live. Does that mean that everyone should
run out the door and light up? Heck no. But we can’t be afraid to live life and
not worry about all the dangers that are, literally, floating around us.
Leave
it to the UN to try and shift our focus away from the real world and the things
that are truly important to living a full and meaningful life. Our focus should
be avoiding the drunk driver heading straight at us rather than on the person
driving next to us smoking a cigarette. There are other things in this world
that require our attention, our focus, and our energy. This applies to both the
dangers and the beauty that surrounds us. The one inevitability in life is
death so enjoy the time that you have and live!
