A group of scientists in the UK recently demanded that bacon and ham products carry health warnings similar to those on cigarettes.

These experts argue that these meats, which are often preserved with chemicals called nitrites, pose a cancer risk that successive UK governments have failed to address.

They are urging the government to act on growing evidence that these foods can increase the risk of cancer , particularly colon (bowel) cancer . This type of cancer is rising , especially among young people , for reasons that remain unclear despite growing research into potential causes.

It has been nearly a decade since the World Health Organization 's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified processed meat as a group 1 carcinogen , meaning there is

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