02. Yes, IARC’s finding puts processed meat in the same category as smoking and asbestos, but any headlines that equate a bite of sausage
with smoking a cigarette have it wrong. As the agency explains, “The IARC classifications describe the strength of the scientific evidence about
an agent being a cause of cancer, rather than assessing the level of risk.”
In other words, processed meats and cigarettes are not equally risky;
rather, the current evidence that they are both carcinogenic is equally