The US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, has issued an advisory urging for cancer risk warnings to be placed on alcoholic beverages, akin to the caution labels found on cigarette packs. The call for updated labels comes on the heels of research highlighting the connection between alcohol and seven types of cancer.
According to the advisory, alcohol consumption leads to approximately 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer-related deaths each year in the US, a fact unknown to the majority of Americans. The current labels, which haven’t been revised since 1988, would need Congressional approval to incorporate these new warnings.
Murthy emphasized the need to reassess how much alcohol is considered safe to consume, advocating for enhanced educational efforts to inform the public about the cancer risks associated with drinking. Alcohol ranks as the third leading preventable cause of cancer, following tobacco and obesity, with clear links to cancers of the breast, throat, liver, esophagus, mouth, larynx, and colon.
The advisory suggests that health care providers should routinely screen for alcohol use and refer individuals for treatment where necessary, while also pushing for broader public awareness campaigns.
Current US labels are required to warn pregnant women against drinking and to note that alcohol can impair driving and machinery operation, potentially causing health issues. However, these labels do not mention cancer risks.
Globally, there’s a trend towards more comprehensive alcohol labeling. The WHO’s 2018 report, referenced in Murthy’s advisory, indicates that 47 countries now mandate health warnings on alcohol, up from 31 in 2014. Notably, Ireland will soon require labels explicitly linking alcohol to cancer, making it the first country to do so. South Korea also mandates cancer-specific warnings.
In the US, altering these labels would require legislative action, and it’s uncertain whether this initiative would receive support from the incoming Trump administration. Around the world, nations are adjusting their alcohol consumption guidelines; for example, Canada recently lowered its limit to two drinks per week from nearly two per day. The US guidelines currently allow up to two drinks per day for men and one for women, while the UK advises no more than 14 units weekly.
Following Murthy’s announcement, shares of major US-listed alcoholic beverage companies, including Diageo, dropped by as much as 4%.