TGIF :: My Deal With the Universe, One Year Later

#56 || Reflections from the plane ride home from the USAPA-hosted conference on alcohol policy: raising awareness on alcohol and cancer

May 17, 2024

This week I share takeaways from United States Alcohol Policy Alliance (USAPA) “Changing America's Relationship With Alcohol” Conference in Washington D.C., “a unique opportunity for collaboration, learning, and advancing the critical discourse on alcohol policy.” The two jammed days were intellectually invigorating—and deeply personal, a full circle since this time last year when I committed to helping to raise awareness on these health risks.

I published “TGIF :: Informed Choices, Alcohol & Cancer, and Why They're Freaking Out in Europe This Week” last May in which I covered the recent news about Ireland’s alcohol label laws and my own experiences of grokking the link between alcohol and cancer, after my diagnosis. I was among the 70% of Americans unaware of the carcinogenic nature or alcohol—even in smaller doses, until it got personal. So I committed to do my small part to change that.

An excerpt with updates [in brackets]:

A Personal Story

On January 20th[, 2023], eight days after my lumpectomy, I experienced a deeply unsettling internal struggle with fear. Our oncological surgeon had informed us that it would take “about a week” to determine if my breast cancer had spread. It had been eight days. No news.

I spent the day, my first alone since the surgery, moving from room to room in our home, waiting for a UCSF MyChart notification, or even better a phone call. Silence.

As the hours passed, I prayed. I tried to nap. I tried to write. I tried to read. I tried to eat. At one point after several hours of this I found a sunlit patch on the bedroom floor and lay down, looking up at the ceiling and started to negotiate with the Universe. If you do this for me, I’ll do this for you, and so on. We made a deal: If the cancer had not spread, if I was spared from metastasis, I vowed to do what I can to raise awareness about the connection between alcohol and cancer, particularly breast cancer.

Alcohol and Breast Cancer?

[…] I was among the 70% of Americans unaware of the direct link between alcohol and cancer until I was diagnosed myself and began researching cancer’s various potential causes. Despite my years of reading and writing about the merits of ClearLife, it was only earlier [last] year that I [grokked] the alarming connection between alcohol and this disease.

[In my research, I learned that] alcohol is a known group 1 carcinogen alongside asbestos, radiation, and tobacco [and has been so designated since 1988]. Despite the efforts of the Big Alcohol industry to impede the dissemination of this emergent science, the truth about the health risks associated with all types of alcoholic beverages, regardless of quantity, is slowly but surely reaching consumers. Obstructive and calculated campaigns have aimed to create a barrier between consumers and scientific evidence for years. However, the awareness of the detrimental effects of alcohol on health is slowly gaining momentum.

My own research is compiled here in this open Google Doc with a few highlights below:

The World Health Organization, January 4, 2023: “No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health . . . Although it is well established that alcohol can cause cancer, this fact is still not widely known to the public in most countries.”
The American Institute for Cancer Research: “All types of alcohol, including wine, beer and liquor, increase cancer risk. For some cancers, such as breast and esophageal, the risk starts increasing with less than one drink per day.”
The American Cancer Society: “[I]t is best not to drink alcohol.” Note that this is a recently updated recommendation. The prior version focused on moderation.
For a juicier read: Wired Magazine: Alcohol is the Breast Cancer Risk No One Wants to Talk About, October 5, 2021: “breast cancer is the second most common cancer (after skin cancer) and the second deadliest (after lung cancer) in women . . . According to a 2020 analysis of a CDC and Prevention survey, only about one in four women ages 15 to 44 knows that alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer.”

➡ ➡ World Health Organization Updated Infographics & Data Sheet here.

If Alcohol is Carcinogenic, Why Don’t More of Us Know?

Similar to the tobacco industry decades ago, the alcohol industry has infiltrated scientific activities conducted by trade associations, social aspect organizations, and the large global producers under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility. They are funding research projects, interpreting scientific findings for the public, and consulting in the development of alcohol control policies, and promoting commercial interests at the expense of public health. A recent Rutgers journal review detailing the above can be reviewed here.

It’s Time to Update Labels

One component of these efforts concerns product labeling. In the U.S., warning labels for beer, wine and hard liquor haven’t been updated for more than three decades, predating the recognition of alcohol as a group 1 carcinogen. Labels note that (1) women should not drink during pregnancy, (2) alcohol impairs the ability to drive and to operate heavy machinery, and (3) drinking “may cause health problems.” Most countries, including the U.S., provide limited information or no explicit mention of the links between alcohol and cancer on their labels. You can review label requirements from around the world here.

From the New England Journal of Medicine: The language “is so understated that it borders on being misleading” and reflects “outdated science regarding alcohol’s harms” resulting in 70% of U.S. adults being unaware of alcohol’s cancer links (summary here).

The Harvard School of Public Health is chiming in too: “Americans deserve the opportunity to make well-informed decisions about their alcohol consumption. . . Designing and adopting new alcohol warning labels should therefore be a research and policy priority.”

This is not an accident. There is a massive lobbying machine, much like the one that played a similar obstructionist role in the Big Tobacco era, working hard to keep the public in the dark about the health dangers associated alcohol. It is finally coming to light what’s been going on here, and “there is growing evidence that the alcohol industry opposes effective alcohol policies and is actively engaged in activities that have a negative impact on public health.”

Enter USAPA

In searching for organizations focused on alcohol and cancer, I found the USAPA. I got on their mailing list and attended their fundraising luncheon in New York in March. I’ve since accepted an invitation to join the board.

The USAPA is committed to advancing alcohol policy that can counter Big Alcohol efforts designed to place economic interests over public health and wellbeing.

This version of their biannual conference was “a gathering of 300+ professionals, advocates, and researchers dedicated to shaping the future of alcohol policy.” Topics covered among 3 plenaries, 34 concurrent sessions, and 57 presentations included:

Big Alcohol: How Do We Fight Back?
The Power of Personal Stories: How to Find and Elevate Them
Alcohol Labeling Reform in the United States
Muddy Waters: Communicating The Alcohol Cancer Link To The Public
Unveiling the Influence of the Alcohol Industry on Public Health Policy
Shaping Narratives, Transforming Realities: Rethinking Media’s Role in Addressing Excessive Alcohol Use
… and a discussion I co-lead: Can A Litigation Strategy Mitigate Harm? My five-minute self-introduction was the first time I’ve told my ClearLife/breast cancer story from a stage. Every word flowed from my heart and I was so grateful for a chance to speak this way, to this audience, about this topic I hold dear. 💗
Dr. Priscilla Martinez, Alcohol Research Group, May 15th, 2024

There were moments when I had to pinch myself: I was surrounded by people and organizations working tirelessly on these somewhat obscure (but important) topics I care so deeply about. And what a collection of diverse, brilliant, heart-led humans, many (most?) of whom have been deeply impacted by alcohol in some way.

Takeaways

Too many of us don’t know: Alcohol consumption remains the 3rd leading preventable cause of death in the US behind smoking and obesity.
Positive change is underway, albeit slowly. This is a bit of a David and Goliath moment as there are hundreds of lobbyists in Washington for Big Alcohol and none focused on mitigating actions such as tax increases, point of sale regulation, warning labels, marketing to youth, and so on. Advancing alcohol policy change requires patience, collaboration, strategy, grit—and money.
Equity is a material consideration for policy development, and there is extensive evidence that this massive global industry is targeting poorer communities. The research presented included tools to disrupt some of these patterns.
Relationships are everything. Everywhere. All the time.
Care about something? Go after it. Listen to your gut. Notice what brings tears to your eyes. Follow your heart to continue to uncover the purposefulness so many of us seek. Then act on it. Don’t dally.
Real change follows a multi-prong effort. We can each do our part. There are likely people and organizations working on the topics you hold dear. If you have time or money to share, find your people, and help pay it forward in a way that works for you. This is The Eighth Awareness (Service) in action!
Be open to evolution. What moved you a decade ago might not be your thing anymore. Make room for what’s alive now by shifting energies out of what no longer resonates and move towards what does. Your gifts are needed.
We never know when our skills might be useful for something new. Who knew that 20+ years of lawyering would equip me to lead a discussion on how litigation strategies can be used to mitigate harm from alcohol, specifically cancer-related harm?
Even when working hard on difficult things, it’s important to have fun. When people are connected to their purpose and one another, joy flows. Amidst the serious material this week, there were also a lot of laughs, jokes, high fives, and hugs. These connections and positive moments fueled us!

My Cancer Status Update

About that deal: Regular checkups tell me I am living with “NED” (no evidence of disease), despite the “micro-metastasis” that was revealed in my post-surgery pathology last year. It’s a technical way of saying the Universe mostly did it’s part and all signs tell me I’m as healthy as can be.

Regardless, I’ll continue to do mine.

Be well. 💪🏼