The U.S. surgeon general has called for warning labels on alcohol to alert people about its risk of causing cancer. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health experts commented on the topic in several media outlets.
In a Jan. 3 advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy outlined the growing body of evidence showing the link between alcohol use and at least seven types of cancer, including mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, breast, liver, and colon and rectum. In addition, the advisory noted that less than half of Americans are aware that alcohol consumption increases cancer risk.
In a Washington Post article, Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, commented on the link between alcohol and breast cancer. “The breast seems particularly sensitive to small doses of alcohol,” he said. “It doesn’t mean women should absolutely not drink alcohol, but they should have that information available to make their own personal decisions.”
Eric Rimm, professor in the Department of Epidemiology, was interviewed on The World. He said that the advisory’s summary of the evidence is not new information—it’s been known for decades that alcohol poses a cancer risk—but he said he was surprised that less than half the U.S. population knows about it. He explained that most of the cancers associated with alcohol use are in parts of the body that alcohol touches—for example, the mouth, throat, colon, and liver. As alcohol metabolizes in the body, it damages DNA, which is what leads to increased cancer risk. As for breast cancer, the increased risk is caused by some of the metabolites produced by alcohol, which can impact hormone levels, Rimm said.
Rimm isn’t sure if putting a label on alcohol is the right approach. “What I would hate for it to do is to scare people away or have them feel terrible about having a glass of wine socially with someone,” he said. Although it made sense to put warning labels on cigarettes, he said, “for cigarettes the risk was twenty times what we’re talking about now for alcohol and breast cancer.”
Timothy Rebbeck, Vincent L. Gregory, Jr. Professor of Cancer Prevention, told USA Today that considering putting warning labels on alcohol is just a start. He noted that after the surgeon general first warned about the dangers of smoking in 1964, it still took decades to develop strategies to curb smoking, such as limiting ads for cigarette, banning them in public spaces, and taxing them.
“It took time for people’s mindset to change and it’s going to be the same for alcohol,” he said.
Read the Washington Post article: Surgeon general calls for alcohol to carry cancer warning
Listen to the interview on The World: The link between alcohol and cancer
Read the USA Today article: Cancer warning labels on alcohol? It’s not that simple.
Learn more
Should alcoholic beverages have cancer warning labels? (Harvard Chan School news)
Is alcohol good or bad for you? Yes. (Harvard Public Health)
Reducing the risks of alcohol (Harvard Chan School news)
