The Surgeon General cited research that drinking leads to around 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths each year – in the United States alone.
While many Americans know of the risks drinking poses to your liver and during pregnancies, most are unaware of the links between alcohol and cancer. Murthy wants the new label to change that.
IU Health oncologist Dr. Laura Vater said that despite the recent recommendations, this information isn't new.
“We have known about the cancer risk of alcohol for at least a couple of decades,” Vater said. “That data has continued to emerge and confirm that alcohol is known to cause at least seven different types of cancer.”
The U.S. hasn’t changed the warning label since it was introduced in 1988. But South Korea and Ireland have already passed laws requiring information about cancer risks on their drinks in response to a growing body of evidence.
“It can actually directly damage the DNA, which can cause cancer, it can cause inflammation in the body, which can cause cancer, and it can change the body's hormones, essentially increasing estrogen, which influences the risk on breast cancer risk,” Vater said.
Changing the label requires an act of Congress. That’s a tough sell in America, where the alcoholic beverage market is worth around $260 billion.
Surveys by the state show almost half of Hoosiers drink alcohol at least once a month.
“Currently, the recommendation is to drink no more than one drink per day if you're a woman, no more than two drinks per day if you're a man. Emerging data is telling us that even if you're drinking those recommendations, or even less than that, that your risk of cancer is still there,” Vater said.
She added that evidence shows graphic images of negative health effects are a stronger deterrent than text alone – an approach which countries in Europe have taken to cigarette sales.
What Murthy recommends is milder, a simple update to the existing text.
The Surgeon General’s recommendations are non-binding, and Murthy is set to be replaced by Trump pick Marty Makary in January.
