The American Medical Association applauded the U.S. surgeon general's recommendation for a cancer warning to be issued on all alcoholic drinks as a welcomed development.
The AMA, a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students, endorsed Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's report that alcohol be labeled as cancer-causing.
"For years, the AMA has said that alcohol consumption at any level, not just heavy alcohol use or addictive alcohol use, is a modifiable risk factor for cancer,” Bruce Scott, AMA president, said in a statement Friday. “And yet, despite decades of compelling evidence of this connection, too many in the public remain unaware of alcohol’s risk.”
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Murthy proposed not only warnings labels on alcoholic beverages, but also suggested that the limits for alcohol consumption in the United States also be rethought.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. — yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a press release announcing the new 22-page report.
Tobacco and obesity are the leading preventable causes of cancer, followed by alcohol, in third place, according to the surgeon general’s report.
Nearly three-quarters of all U.S. adults, 72%, reported that they consumed one or more alcoholic drinks per week, but fewer than half reported that they were aware of the documented relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.
Seven different types of cancer, including breast cancer and colon cancer, have now been linked by medical studies to alcohol consumption.
The most effective way to spread awareness of the carcinogenic properties of alcohol, Murthy suggested, is to update the health risk label on units of alcohol, similar to those for tobacco products. However, this would require an act of Congress.
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The World Health Organization has stated that no amount of alcohol consumption is safe.
Republicans have long been outspoken critics of tightening recommendations on alcohol consumption, which will likely make any form of legislation on alcohol warnings the center of heated partisan debate in 2025.
