DOCTORS are urging hospitals to ban bacon butties and bangers as they warn processed meat is as “dangerous as asbestos”.

All-day breakfasts and favourites including sausages and mash could be banished from hospital canteens due to the new health push.

2 Docs are urging hospitals to ban bacon butties and bangers Credit: PA:Press Association

The Plant-based Health Professionals group, which was set up by medics, fear the cancer risk posed by processed meat and want NHS hospitals to promote healthy diets.

Founder Dr Shireen Kassam said: “The NHS spends millions treating cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

“Why serve food that can cause life-threatening conditions? Hospitals will argue healthier options are available, but there’s no safe limit with processed meat.”

The group is calling on hospitals to get processed meat out of hospitals with its Give Bacon The Boot campaign.

It urges the public to write to MPs and hospitals.

Anaesthetist Dr Charlotte Houltram, who supports the cause, told the Mirror: “Bacon is in the same category as asbestos as far as its potential to cause cancer.”

The campaign comes after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified processed meat as a carcinogen - something that causes cancer.

Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation.

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Examples include bacon, hot dogs, ham, sausages, corned beef, and biltong or beef jerky as well as canned meat and meat-based preparations and sauces.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) classified processed meat in the same category as causes of cancer such as tobacco smoking and asbestos.

But WHO said this does not mean they are all equally dangerous.

2 All-day breakfasts and favourites including sausages and mash could be banished from hospital canteens Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun