Alcohol should have cancer warning label, top US health official says

NEWS WIRES

3 January 2025 at 9:53 am·1-min read

A bartender pours a draft beer in a bar in Brest, western France.

Alcoholic drinks should have labels warning consumers that they cause cancer, the United States' top government doctor said on Friday. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the connection between cancer and alcohol has been known for decades, "yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk".

The United States' top government doctor on Friday called for health warnings on alcoholic drinks to highlight that they cause cancer and urged a reassessment of daily consumption limits due to the risks.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that the connection between alcohol and cancer has been known since the 1980s, with mounting evidence reinforcing the dangers. Yet, mandatory warning labels fail to address the health threat.

"Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer, responsible for about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States," Murthy said in a statement, emphasizing that this toll exceeds the approximately 13,500 alcohol-related traffic fatalities each year.

"Yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk," he added, underscoring the urgent need for public education.

Introduced in 1988, the existing warning label only states that "women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects" and that "consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems."

The new advisory also questioned the adequacy of US dietary guidelines, which recommend a daily limit of two drinks for men and one for women.

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