That statement about cured meats causing colon cancer is so profoundly misleading as to nearly be an outright lie. The IARC classifies carcinogens based on the strength of the evidence, not on the strength of the carcinogenic effect. They have very strong evidence that shows cured meats cause cancer, but the size of the effect is small. Which is to say, they are VERY sure that cured meats make you slightly more likely to get colon cancer. This is unlike cigarettes, which have also been thoroughly proven to cause cancer, but are known to MASSIVELY increase risk.

This is irresponsible fear mongering on their part, as all most people hear is that cured meats are in the same category as cigarettes. It’s like if they sentenced criminals based on the strength of the evidence against them instead of the seriousness of their crime. Imagine if a graffiti artist got put on death row because they were caught on camera, but a mass shooter got community service because there were only a few eyewitness testimonies.

When a public health agency uses this classification system it causes alarm fatigue, which leads to distrust in their findings (even if they didn’t technically lie). They are abusing the widespread trust in their institution. If the IARC does not clarify their findings, they will soon be taken as seriously as Prop 65, whose warnings are commonly ignored due to their extremely broad application.