UK Government being urged to ban use of nitrite in food processing over suspicion of causing cancer

Scientists from Queen's University Belfast in a study found that the mice which ate processed meat with the chemicals used to cure bacon and give it its pink colour, got 75% more cancerous tumours than mice that ate pork without nitrites. It was also found that mice who ate pork that had been cured with nitrites got 82% more tumours in their intestines than mice in the control group. The study found that mice fed the same amount of pork without nitrites did not get more tumours. This shows that the chemicals have a big effect on the risk of getting cancer. The UK government is being urged to ban use of the chemical in processed meat such as bacon and ham after mice tumors study.