Alcohol should carry cancer risk warning: US surgeon general

WASHINGTON DC: Alcohol is a leading preventable cause of cancer, and alcoholic beverages should carry a warning label as packs of cigarettes do, the US surgeon general said in an advisory on Friday.

Stating that alcohol directly contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 related deaths each year, US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy’s office noted that consuming alcohol increases the risk for “at least seven types of cancer” including breast, colon and liver.

“Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, increasing the risk for at least seven types of cancer,” Murthy’s office said in a statement accompanying the new report.

It is the latest salvo in a fierce debate about the risks and benefits of moderate drinking as the influential US Dietary Guidelines for Americans are about to be updated. For decades, moderate drinking was said to help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Labels currently affixed to bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages warn about drinking while pregnant or before driving and operating other machinery, and about general “health risks.”

The current warning label has not been changed since it was adopted in 1988, even though the link between alcohol and breast cancer has been known for decades. It was first mentioned in the 2000 US Dietary Guidelines.

"For breast cancer specifically, 16.4% of total breast cancer cases are attributable to alcohol consumption," the report said.

In 2016, the surgeon general’s report on alcohol, drugs and health linked alcohol abuse to seven different types of cancer. “The direct link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk is well-established for at least seven types of cancer including cancers of the breast, colorectum, oesophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx), and voice box (larynx), regardless of the type of alcohol (e.g., beer, wine, and spirits) that is consumed,” the report said.