--- description: The report of a link between processed meats and cancer comes following decades of worry about bacon title: Bacon and Cancer: Possible Link Is Nothing New image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bef2434a6bbb78c/698869d18e0601197646300e/red-meat-cancer-who-report1.jpg?branch=production ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [health](/tag/health/) ## health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Link Between Bacon and Cancer Had Been Long Suspected  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 26, 2015 4:27 PM CUT  The Mar. 26, 1984, cover of TIME The Mar. 26, 1984, cover of TIMECover Credit: ANDREW UNANGST  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Oct 26, 2015 4:27 PM CUT When TIME published its now-iconic frowning bacon cover in 1984, the story focused on only one potential problem with the beloved meat: [cholesterol](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-03-26/page/56/ "undefined"). Researchers have since come to identify a range of other potentially harmful effects, leading to the World Health Organization’s [announcment](http://time.com/4086823/processed-meat-and-red-meat-is-linked-to-cancer-says-who/?xid=homepage "undefined") that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has now classified processed meat as carcinogenic. While the report does not say definitively what accounts for the link, researchers have long suspected nitrates—a type of preservative found in many processed meats—as a [potential culprit. ](http://time.com/4086858/who-meat-cancer/?xid=homepage "undefined") In the early 1970s, consumer advocate and future presidential contender Ralph Nader took aim at the Department of Agriculture, [charging](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-08-02/page/54/ "undefined") that the agency privileged the desires of “agribusiness” over its mandate to protect citizens. One particular target of his interest was the list of chemicals that appear in meat without consumers’ knowledge. “The problem is that residues of many invisible chemicals remain in the meat, endangering the final consumer, man,” TIME noted. “Some, like nitrite and nitrate preservatives, can be poisonous under certain conditions.” (Nitrites and nitrates are related but non-identical compounds.) By 1978, the U.S. Assistant Agriculture Secretary for Food and Consumer Services [ordered](http://time.com/vault/issue/1978-12-04/page/89/ "undefined") a reduction of nitrites in bacon due to a suspected link between the preservatives and cancer. As TIME later [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-09-01/page/55/ "undefined"), that was the year a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that rats who consumed a nitrite-rich diet developed lymphatic cancer at a rate nearly double that of other rats in the study. The meat industry sued to prevent the order from going through, arguing that it would lead to a rash of food-poisoning cases and higher costs. By 1980, the pro-nitrite side had won. As TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-09-01/page/55/ "undefined") in September of that year, sodium nitrite was at the time added to $14.5 billion worth of food each year, in order to prevent bacteria growth and to preserve the pink color of the meat, and a government follow-up to the cancer study had been unable to confirm its conclusions: --- > “” --- Still, the government said that further research into the potentially carcinogenic qualities of preservatives would be conducted. By 1982, the National Academy of Sciences issued a [report](http://time.com/vault/issue/1982-06-28/page/91/ "undefined") recommending that lowering consumption of smoked, pickled and cured foods might help decrease the risk of certain cancers. The new WHO report does not answer whether nitrites and nitrates are to blame for its warning. But it is unequivocal on one count: consumers and scientists who studied bacon had reason to be concerned. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4086914/bacon-cancer-nitrate-1980/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4086914/bacon-cancer-nitrate-1980/"},"headline":"Link Between Bacon and Cancer Had Been Long Suspected","datePublished":"2015-10-26T16:27:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:04:25.420Z","description":"The report of a link between processed meats and cancer comes following decades of worry about bacon","url":"https://time.com/4086914/bacon-cancer-nitrate-1980/","keywords":["health","medicine","Cancer","Bacon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bef2434a6bbb78c/698869d18e0601197646300e/red-meat-cancer-who-report1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bef2434a6bbb78c/698869d18e0601197646300e/red-meat-cancer-who-report1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Red Meat Cancer WHO","caption":"Red Meat Cancer WHO","creditText":"Cover Credit: ANDREW UNANGST","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health/","name":"health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4086914/bacon-cancer-nitrate-1980/","name":"Link Between Bacon and Cancer Had Been Long Suspected"}}]}] ```