Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has called for alcohol to carry warning labels for cancer, saying it causes nearly 100,000 cancer cases and approximately 20,000 cancer deaths every year.
In a Jan. 3 report, Murthy noted that the current warning label — which cautions against drinking during pregnancy, operating heavy machinery or a car, or causing “health problems” — hasn’t been updated since it was first introduced in 1988.
Although he did not share language for the updated label, Murthy’s report points out that alcohol consumption is linked to an increased risk of at least seven types of cancer: breast, colon and rectum, liver, mouth, throat, larynx, and esophagus.
There are 47 countries that carry warning labels on alcohol, the report says; South Korea’s labels specifically mention the cancer risk, and beginning next year, Ireland will carry a cancer-specific warning label.
“Scientific evidence has demonstrated that prominent, pictorial, and rotating messages, compared to less conspicuous, text-only, and static messages, are more effective for influencing awareness and behavior,” Murthy’s report said. However, it will take an act of Congress to change the label.
Incoming President Donald Trump does not drink, The New York Times noted, and his choice for head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after giving up drugs and alcohol years ago.
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“Many people out there assume that as long as they’re drinking at the limits or below the limits of current guidelines of one a day for women and two for men, that there is no risk to their health or well-being,”Murthy said, according to the Times. “The data does not bear that out for cancer risk.”
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