TGIF :: U.S. Surgeon General Reports (today): Alcohol Causes Cancer
#83 || This report from The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including its #1 recommendation that we update alcohol labels, is a huge step in the right direction.
I wasn’t going to publish anything today (been down with a cold, heading out on retreat in a few hours), but I woke up to this and can’t help myself.
[💃🏻 ← me, happy dance]
Thank you, Dr. Vivek Murthy & team!
As covered by the New York Times, today the U.S. Surgeon General released a clear and graphics-rich report and supporting materials via the U.S. Health and Human Services platform, highlighting science and research that links alcoholic beverages to at least seven malignancies, including breast cancer.
The summary statement on the first page:
This advisory highlights alcohol use as a leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, contributing to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year.
The report makes several recommendations, the first being an update to alcohol product labeling:
Update the existing Surgeon General’s health warning label on alcohol-containing beverages to include a warning about the risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption. [See page 17]. Pursue changes to label characteristics to make the warning label more visible, prominent, and effective in increasing awareness about cancer risks associated with alcohol consumption.
Page 17 of the report then advocates for Congress to mandate health warning labels to read more like those on tobacco products:
In the U.S., pursuant to 27 U.S.C. 215, every alcoholic beverage sold in the United States must currently have the following health warning label:
“GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.”
This label statement has remained unchanged since its inception in 1988. The power to change the label statement lies with Congress. Given the conclusive evidence on the cancer risk from alcohol consumption and the Office of the Surgeon General’s responsibility to inform the American public of the best available scientific evidence, the Surgeon General recommends an update to the Surgeon General’s warning label for alcohol-containing beverages to include a cancer risk warning.
Other graphics from the report:
ℹ️ Cancer cases worldwide attributable to alcohol consumption in 2020 graphic
ℹ️ Less than half of Americans are aware that alcohol consumption increases cancer risk graphic
ℹ️ Consuming alcohol increases the risk of developing at least 7 types of cancer graphic
ℹ️ Higher alcohol consumption increases breast cancer risk in women graphic
This is a huge victory for those who’ve been advocating for increased education and awareness around the risks of alcohol use both in the United States and beyond.
And, it’s personal.
Updating alcohol labeling has been an area of passion of mine since my own breast cancer experience in 2023. You can read my personal story here: TGIF :: It's High Time We Update Alcohol Labeling and a follow-up with more details on the effort with the United States Alcohol Policy Alliance here: TGIF :: My Deal With the Universe, One Year Later.
What’s next
This issue is political, and will continue to be so as we look to Congress to activate these recommendations. Our government has been heavily influenced by Big Alcohol for decades with 290 pro-alcohol lobbyists fighting exactly this kind of reform on the hill in 2024 alone. Many congresspeople benefit from Big Alcohol funding and are undoubtedly influenced by their desire to limit the exact types of labels and other public information campaigns Dr. Murthy us asking Congress to mandate.
Further complicating things, president-elect Donald Trump doesn’t drink and lost his brother to alcohol abuse. His selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health Secretary is in recovery from drugs and alcohol himself.
It’s going to be an interesting year, for many reasons.
If you want to learn more or support our efforts via USAPA (I joined the board last year), please reach me directly or via our website. There will be a lot of activity in coming days and weeks and we need all the support we can get.
Onward!
Miscellaneous…
Dry January… is off to a fiery start, seemingly more popular and widespread than ever. Are you a fan? Do you think this is a good ritual or just another distraction on the way to more permanent habit change? I’d love to hear from you.
One Hour of Community Connection via Zoom: The next Sangha Saturday will be January 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM PT / Noon ET. These are monthly online gatherings (and occasionally in person in Mill Valley). We start with a brief meditation, a bit of context / topic setting, and then we open it up for exploration among us. Though not focused on “sobriety” or “recovery” those of us who attend are actively exploring a life without dimmers, and for many of us, that prior dimmer was alcohol. Others include food, generosity, pot, and work. Link for invite here.
Thank you for trusting me with your time. I am grateful to be starting another year engaged with you and your reader-ship. ❤️
THANK YOU for this update! I hope you feel better and enjoy the retreat. This is exciting news and I'm thrilled to see progress. Let's keep the momentum going. Let me know how I can help. XO
Glad you found the energy to write this! It has been nice to see a general trend towards moving away from alcohol in the recent years, particularly in the younger generation. As an addiction psychiatrist, I still see the leak of alcohol across the individuals community/family. I hope that this more direct and public acknowledgement of health conditions starts to really push the needle in a positive direction.