Alcohol cancer risk: Experts back call for warning labels

While Canada hasn’t mandated cancer warnings for alcoholic beverages, a few experts are supporting a new push in the U.S. to have the labels on the products.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is calling for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages after issuing a new advisory Friday about the increased risk of developing cancer.

“Consumers have a right to know the inherent health risks of products they’re consuming, especially products that are often sold by governments,” Erin Hobin, a scientist at Public Health Ontario who has studied the effectiveness of alcohol warning labels, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. “I think there is an opportunity for Canada to strengthen their labelling regulations for alcohol purely from a consumer’s right to know perspective.”

The need for warnings is pressing given that the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer categorized alcoholic beverages as a group 1 carcinogen – the highest risk level, she said. What’s more, the evidence on the link between alcohol and cancer has grown, Hobin added.

“It’s confirmed that alcohol is causally related to at least seven types of cancer, including mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, colon, breast and liver,” she said.

Similarly, Dr. Peter Butt welcomes the push for cancer warning labels on alcohol. Butt is clinical associate professor at the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

“I think it’s about time that this position has been taken at a national level,” said Butt, whose clinical and research work focuses on substance use disorders, in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. “We’ve certainly made that a recommendation with regards to our Canadian guidance on alcohol and health. … People have a right to know and less (alcohol) is better.”

Risk of developing cancer

Hobin said all alcoholic beverages are carcinogens, including wine, spirits, beer and cider, because of the ethanol in them.

Butt said the higher the amount of the carcinogen ethanol in an alcoholic beverage, the greater the risk of developing cancer, though he cautioned that “there’s no safe amount.”

He said it’s a myth that alcohol like wine can be “heart healthy.”

“We know that it leads to high blood pressure, it leads to atrial fibrillation, it leads to cardiac dysrhythmias,” he said. In addition, he said alcohol is toxic to the liver and causes birth defects.

Will warnings be effective?

Hobin believes cancer warnings will be effective in reducing alcohol consumption.

“The evidence is strongest for a cancer warning on alcohol containers in terms of attracting consumer attention because the majority of adults in Canada are unaware that alcohol causes cancer,” Hobin said, citing a 2023 Health Canada national survey.

As well, she pointed to another study she was a part of that suggests “alcohol container labels with health warnings or comprehensive information might influence some alcohol consumption behaviour.”

The study, which was a systematic review, was published in The Lancet Public Health journal in July 2024.

With files from CNN