[originaltext] W: As you have probably heard in a headline or two by now, it

W: As you have probably heard in a headline or two by now, it was a sobering day for meat lovers, especially in a country that ranks second in the world for eating the most meat.
   This new report released today by the World Health Organization found that often-beloved meats, like sausage, bacon, ham, and hot dogs, can cause certain types of cancer. Prior studies had established similar connections, but the WHO is the most prominent health organization to specifically say processed meats can cause cancer.
   It looked at more than 800 studies around the world. It also found that eating freshly prepared red meat like steak or pork or lamb probably can cause cancer as well.
   Here to help us sort through this is Jonathan Schoenfeld. He is a professor at Harvard Medical School. He co-wrote a notable paper for The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2012 about the links between diet and cancer.
   Dr. Schoenfeld, thank you for doing this.
   The WHO certainly puts the scare into meat eaters all over the country today.
   How much of this — if I’m someone who has a couple of slices of bacon or a
   turkey sandwich a few times a week, how worried should I be?
   M: Sure.
   So, I think it’s important to realize that what the World Health Organization did was, like you said, to look at hundreds of studies and put the evidence from those studies together to show that the consumption of processed red meats was quite possibly associated with an increased risk of a variety of different types of cancer.
   Now, what these studies did was a look at the overall risk of cancer. And so it’s hard to say that any one piece of bacon, for example, or a piece of meat would increase your risk of cancer by a certain amount, but, in total, you know, these studies show that being one of the people who consume the most amounts of meats or processed foods could potentially increase your risk of these cancers.
   W: So, let’s break this down a little bit. When we say processed meats, what are we talking about?
   M: So, it’s actually a definition that encompasses a variety of different ways to add flavor or to help preserve the meats.
   So the different studies that the World Health Organization looked at might have had a slightly different definition of what processed meats meant. So it could be things like salting, it could be things like adding chemicals to help preserve the food, or to help add flavor to these different foods.
   W: Is it the process of processing itself that causes the problems or is it the cooking of processed meats?
   M: You really couldn’t say. And the authors of this report admit as much. What they could look at is the total. The act of processing the meat or the consumption of the processed meat was associated with an increased risk of cancer, but the studies don’t allow you to actually dissect that further and figure out what exactly it is about processed meats that may lead to the increased risk. This is the end of Conversation Two. Questions 6 to 10 are based on Conversation Two.
   Question 6
   What is the major finding in the WHO report?
   (pause: 10 seconds)
   Question 7
   How many studies have been used in the WHO report?
   (pause: 10 seconds)
   Question 8
   What is the relationship between eating processed meat and cancer?
   (pause: 10 seconds)
   Question 9
   What is processed meat?
   (pause: 10 seconds)
   Question 10
   What causes the problem, processing meat or cooking processed meat?
   (pause: 10 seconds)