Surgeon general calls for alcohol to carry cancer warning

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

Health warning labels on alcohol should be updated to include a cancer risk warning, the surgeon general said Friday, adding that recommended limits for alcohol consumption should also be reassessed, given the increased cancer risk.

Alcohol consumption is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, Vivek H. Murthy said in an advisory. It contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 related deaths each year, he added.

“Higher alcohol consumption increases alcohol-related cancer risk, yet only 45% of American adults are aware that consuming alcohol increases their risk of developing cancer,” Murthy wrote on X.

Any mandatory changes to the health warning labels would need to be approved by Congress. President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, has announced Janette Nesheiwat, a family and emergency medicine physician and onetime Fox News contributor, as his pick for the next surgeon general.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/03/alcohol-cancer-warning-surgeon-general/

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Link to Advisory

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/oash-alcohol-cancer-risk.pdf

[Maggiemayhem]

31. This has been the position in the UK for some time now

I just figured our alcohol lobby was too strong in the US

[Omnipresent]

2. He needn't stop at alcohol..

Sweetened coffee creamer and sodas contribute to pancreatic cancer as well.
Just about everything not used in moderation can kill us.

[hlthe2b]

4. Grocery Stores Processed food areas shouldl be nothing but warning signs...

Just varying in the concentration of known or suspected carcinogens.

However, there are likewise questions over even the most limited pesticide residues and additives in animal feed. Likewise, wild-caught fish have some level of potentially carcinogenic contaminants, including methylmercury, other heavy metals, PCBs, and others.

So, best to eat a wide variety of fresh (as possible) foods and all else in moderation... Easy enough for the very poor living in food deserts... NOT! sigh...

But, I do not oppose a warning label on alcohol. They are already there for other risks.

[Omnipresent]

5. All of it is so true.

The thing about pancreatic cancer is that once it’s detected, it’s usually too late to treat.

[hlthe2b]

6. Absolutely.. With advances on at least extending life with some lung cancer, pancreatic cancer is the

one we generally fear diagnosing most.

[MuseRider]

9. My father was gone

10 days after becoming sick but then that was 1973. No real problem but a little coughing, nothing unusual, and then he turned yellow and died.

[jimfields33]

11. I know it's hard on the family.

But I want to go fast when my time comes.

[MuseRider]

12. Oh me too!

It was a blessing. My Mother went crazy and would not let me or my brothers see him then told me he was dead in a grocery store. I was not prepared for that certainly. My solid directions to my family is put me down as soon as it looks like I will not recover. Dig a hole at the farm and bury my ashes with my long gone critters then sell the place and move on. We are here then we are gone.

As to easier? Yes and no. I am the only one left, my youngest brother was found dead a couple of months ago. KInda odd being the only one left.

[OnionPatch]

17. My husband was gone within six months of his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

That was with treatment.

He was heavy drinker.

[pstokely]

35. shouldn't they put warnings in fast food drive throughs?

And Pepsi/Coke vending machines?

[John1956PA]

3. Nipping at mixed drinks has been my guity pleasure the last few days.

I do not like feeling light-headed, therefore, I stop in imbibing for hours after a few sips of a mixed drink.

For a few years now, there have been news articles reporting that not even a moderate level of alcohol consumption is harmless.

Lately, there has been talk of some alcohol drinkers revealing themselves to be "dry-curious." Over the years, some of those drinkers have pledged to a dry January, but went back to imbibing in February. The term "dry-curious" refers to trying temperance long term.

[Joinfortmill]

7. I enjoy a 'light' drink two or three times a week. Given my advanced age, I will probably continue the habit.

But, I did pass the info on to my grandchildren, who likely do the 'gummy' thing more than drinking.

[maxsolomon]

23. Be careful.

You might (eventually) die.

[Joinfortmill]

34. Lol

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Growth hormone proteins with alcohol shipped in plastic bottles

are my favorites. We have inflammation because something like The Blob grows within? Small wonder.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. It's about time. I hope it becomes reality. ...

The majority of the cancer patients that I cared for were head, neck, esophagus and stomach cancer sufferers. Many were surprised to learn about the contribution alcohol likely made to their illnesses.

I'm glad this may finally be happening. Maybe in 10 or 20 years it will have made a difference.

It's shocking to me the number of young people today who are using alcohol with little concern about their health. Alcohol use is being glamorized and advertised as a status symbol when it is responsible for more expansive and pervasive suffering than any other drug.

Once you become a pickle, you can never be a cucumber again.

[CTyankee]

20. It's a wonder that the French, the Italians and the Spanish folk aren't all dead early in life...

they all drink "in moderation" which to them is probably a couple of glasses of wine a day, with meals.

[Hekate]

21. It's astonishing to me, as well

OTOH what an opportunity for health absolutists to take virtuous potshots at the rest of us.

[littlemissmartypants]

22. You do realize that cancer is not well understood.

We are learning more about it with the mapping of the human genome as a basis for study. But many factors play a role in the development of malignancies.

For example, it's been discovered that some cancers apparently lie dormant in the body and only develop malignancies when triggered by an infection with a virus, fungus or other microbes.

There are many factors at play.

If you're interested:
List of countries by cancer rate
France and the United States are in the top ten if you exclude non-melanoma skin cancer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cancer_rate

❤️pants

[maxsolomon]

33. Cancer is not ENTIRELY understood.

Cancer Researchers would take issue with your "not well understood". A great deal has been learned in the last 50 years.

[littlemissmartypants]

40. And some things have been...

Revised, disputed, and disproven all together. Like all scientific inquiries, there's always something new to discover, and some things believed to be true that may be found to be false.

Fifty years isn't very long, considering how long cancer has been a known entity. I would argue that it's a gross underestimate. I'd say that on balance, there's more left to learn than what is already known.

In 2016, a 1.7 million year old osteosarcoma was reported by Dr Edward John Odes (a doctoral student in Anatomical Sciences from the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, South Africa) and colleagues, representing the oldest documented malignant hominin cancer.


A tumor removed by surgery in 1689.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cancer

Also, I couldn't care less about what opinions of mine that cancer researchers "would take issue with."

❤️pants

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. France's cancer mortality is considerably higher

than the US. I found that interesting.

[CTyankee]

41. It wouldn't make sense if it were due to drinking wine....

I have heard about their little saying "Oh, ma foie!"

[maxsolomon]

43. They smoke more than we do.

About 10% more of the population: 35% in France vs 25% here.

[TexasBushwhacker]

46. Their overall cancer diagnosis rate is lower than the US

But their mortality rate of those diagnosed is higher. That's what I found interesting, especially since they have better health care.

[BeyondGeography]

13. The anti-booze drumbeat reaches its predictable crescendo

While junk food and drink suppliers sail happily on, not to mention gun manufacturers.

What a joke this country is.

[maxsolomon]

14. New Years is alcohol shaming season.

Screaming into the void, Dr. Murthy. The incoming Congress won't pass a labelling bill, ever ever ever, and he knows it.

Everything gives us cancer. The sun gives us cancer.

[Marthe48]

15. Probably the radiation in the planet too

n/t

[alarimer]

25. And as someone who has worked outside my whole career, I am more concerned about the sun

Than I am about the small amount of alcohol I consume.

We can try to eliminate all the possible risks and guess what? People still get cancer. Non-smokers get lung cancer, etc.

I get it's about risk management, but it comes across as the New Prohibition, which backfired spectacularly the first time.

[maxsolomon]

32. All things in moderation.

Queen Elizabeth II had a Martini every day until she was 95.

She didn't have 3 (which is where my local steakhouse cuts people off).

[Marthe48]

16. I read results years ago that beef and alcohol combined

could cause colon cancer. My Dad died fron cirrhosis of the liver and colon cancer, age 54. His diet was mainly beef and whiskey.

[LudwigPastorius]

18. !

[Mosby]

19. I went to a cardiologist about 5 years ago just to check out a weird issue prior to my hernia surgery

Turns out I get PACs, premature atrial contractions, and it's no biggie because it doesn't affect my heart rhythm.

We talked about my diet etc and he remarked that "we consider alcohol cardiotoxic". I suppressed a laugh but I take doctors seriously so I researched it later at home. Turns out the medical community have walked back that Harvard "study" that concluded that people who are light drinkers live longer than non drinkers, and have further concluded that alcohol in any amount is not good for your heart and circulatory system.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. Light drinkers live longer, but alcohol in any amount is not

good for heart and circulation. So which is it?

[AkFemDem]

30. And also red wine is somehow good for the heart?!

I give up. Gonna go have a cocktail and ponder my life choices.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. No amount of alcohol is good for your brain n/t

[Mosby]

42. The harvard study was flawed

So their conclusions were wrong.

There is a lot of bad research conducted by medical doctors.

[alarimer]

24. I don't care

They can put all the warnings they like. I'm not making it through the next four years completely sober. There is just no fucking way.

I really fucking hate the new puritanism.

LET US HAVE OUR SMALL PLEASURES.

[love_katz]

26. The message that we get from $hitler's election is: die!

It's the same message our bodies get from poluted air, water, and food.

I can sympathize with the need many of us will have to cushion ourselves from the coming horrors.

[enid602]

36. List

Watch what you say; you don’t want to end us on ‘Shitler’s list.’

[CTyankee]

39. IDK. My mother and father drank Scotch and water for years when I was growing up.

I thought it was a vile drink. Daddy died at 82 and mother at 92.

[alarimer]

44. And mostly no one will listen to these warnings anyway.

If I actually listened to all the advice like this, I might live longer or it might just seem like it.

[doc03]

28. Hang around a few years and they will reverse it. Butter was bad now it is

better than margarine. Eggs bad now they are Ok. A couple beers or a glass of wine were good now they aren't.
Coffee bad now I have heard two three cups are OK. You can only consume certain seafood one or two times a month.
They should make a short list of the few things that don't kill us. I will continue to consume all the above and take my chances.

[Oneear]

29. This is what I think Liquor by the Drink Safe Serve 1 Beer, or One Mix Drink Customer is shut off for 24 Hours

How to Regulate this idea is to have the server download the ID to the State Liquor by the Drink Computer that will show if the Server can Serve the Customer One Drink for 24 Hours.

[NickB79]

45. The 3 leading causes of cancer: smoking, obesity and alcohol

Per an NPR story I was listening to earlier.