Skip to main content

#SmugVegetarians and bacon fans process their feelings over meat cancer warnings

social media reaction bacon causes cancer
Bacon might be one the most popular food items in social media, from its very own Facebook page with over 6 million likes to memes and recipes purporting that you really can make anything better if you add bacon to it. If you plan to speak ill of bacon, hot dogs, or other processed meat, you should generally prepare yourself to be greeted by a virtual army of angry fans.

However, the reaction to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recent report that “eating processed meat such as sausages and ham causes cancer…” was a mixture of sadness, panic, and joy. Fans turned to social media declaring that even cancer couldn’t stop their love for meat; non-fans seemingly delighted in and celebrated the possibility that other people might get cancer but not them.

Related Videos

Processed meat datingFind your bacon soulmate with Sizzl, the Oscar Mayer dating app

In addition to processed meats being linked to cancer, the report notes that red meat may also be carcinogenic, placing nearly every type of meat product that people who love meat love, in the same category as smoking and asbestos. While the news understandably upset meat eaters who have likely spent their entire lives consuming large amounts of meat deemed dangerous in the report, vegetarians took to social media with hashtags such as #smugvegetarian to say, “I told you so,” and smokers got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to wag their fingers at people who might now be considered unhealthier than themselves.

The North American Meat Industry, among those upset about the recent WHO study, called the report, “dramatic and alarmist overreach,” while taking to social media themselves to respond. Janet Riley, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at North American Meat also issued a statement via the meatnewsnetwork YouTube channel basically stating, you should keep eating meat because if you pay attention to the list of cancer-causing agents, “living on this planet is a hazard.”

Which side are you on? And does it really matter?

Editors' Recommendations

‘We can’t say what’s safe’: Doctors react to Trump abandoning vape ban
Man vaping an electronic cigarette

It was a medical miracle that didn’t need to happen: In October, Dr. Lisa Allenspach of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, performed a rare bilateral lung transplant on a high-school-age boy. The boy’s lungs were so damaged that doctors were not able to sufficiently oxygenate them. It’s the first such transplant that’s been performed because of the ongoing health crisis surrounding vaping.

The surgery was a success. Last week, when it became apparent the boy would survive, Allenspach and her colleagues warned of the evils of vaping.

Read more
CDC says it has finally found a cause of the vaping illness that’s killed dozens
Vape

Federal health officials say they've identified the likely culprit behind a vaping-related lung illness that's sickened thousands and killed dozens. Investigators found Vitamin E acetate in the lung fluids of 29 people who reported getting sick from vaping, the Centers for Disease Control said Friday. The oil was found at the "primary site of injury" of these patients, CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat told reporters in a Friday news conference.

So far, at least 39 have died and over 2,000 have become sick according to the CDC's most recent figures. While Vitamin E acetate has long been suspected as the likely culprit, Friday's announcement is the first time the CDC has acknowledged publicly that it was such. The rash of deaths related to electronic cigarette use has led several municipalities and states to enact various forms of vaping bans, from moratoriums on the sale of flavored vapes to San Francisco's ban on all e-cigarettes. The Trump administration has moved to ban flavored vaping products nationwide, with a rollout expected in the coming months.

Read more
Juul discontinues sales of its mint-flavored pods
Juul

Juul is discontinuing its sales of mint Juul pods, citing studies released from different surveys. The announcement comes a week after a lawsuit was filed against Juul, claiming the company shipped out 1 million batches of contaminated mint e-liquid. 

The company said in an announcement that all sales of mint-flavored Juul pods would cease both online and in stores. Studies from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey and the Monitoring the Future survey revealed that young people are 31% more likely to use an e-cigarette because of available flavors like mint, candy, and fruit. The studies also showed that this the largest year-to-year increase recorded in vaping in young people. 

Read more