Campaigners visit Dumfries to promote bowel cancer awareness
Written by author on September 19, 2013
Campaigners from Animal Aid will be visiting Dumfries on 27th September to raise awareness of the link between processed red meat and bowel cancer. Dumfries and Galloway has the highest incidence rate of bowel cancer in the whole UK.
The disease is the second most lethal form of cancer in the UK, after lung cancer, killing around 15,700 people each year. There is now overwhelming scientific evidence that eating processed red meat – such as bacon, sausages and ham – increases the risk of developing the disease.
Animal Aid’s Dumfries visit forms part of the ‘No Safe Limit’ campaign. The group is calling for restrictions on the sale of processed red meat similar to those for tobacco, including:
Health warning labels
Removal from hospital menus
A ban on sales to those under the age of 18
Says Animal Aid campaigner Ben Martin:
‘The fact that eating processed red meat increases the risk of bowel cancer has been acknowledged by the World Health Organization, the World Cancer Research Fund and even the UK’s Department of Health. Yet little has been done to warn the public about the danger. That’s why we’re visiting Dumfries – to make people aware of this in an area where bowel cancer affects a greater number of people.’
Studies show that eating processed red meat can as much as double the risk of developing bowel cancer and that approximately one-fifth of all cases of the disease in the UK in 2010 could be attributed to the consumption of processed and unprocessed red meat.
Animal Aid will be in Dumfries town centre from 11am-4pm distributing information about processed red meat and bowel cancer, as well as providing important nutritional advice and showing a short film about the issue on the side of a converted ambulance.
