In an unprecedented move, a wide range of doctors, charitable organizations and public health experts in Britain have called for clear health warnings to be placed on alcoholic beverage containers, alerting consumers to the direct risk of alcohol causing various types of cancer.
Warnings of an "invisible danger"
In a letter to Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, dozens of medical bodies called for legislation requiring alcohol producers to include prominent and unambiguous warnings on all alcohol products, noting that public awareness in the UK of the dangers of alcohol remains "shockingly low," despite studies linking it to seven types of cancer and 17,000 cases per year.
The World Cancer Research Foundation (WCRF), which coordinated the letter, said: "The evidence is clear: "Putting health warnings on alcohol is urgently needed in the UK to save lives.
List of alcohol-related cancers
Health organizations, such as WCRF and Cancer Research UK, point out that alcohol increases the risk of:
Breast cancer
Colon
Stomach
liver
Head and neck
Mouth
Ireland paves the way
Ireland is set to become the first country in the world to impose cancer warnings on alcohol products, with bottles, from next May, carrying a warning that reads: "There is a direct link between alcohol and deadly forms of cancer."
Warnings will also include the risk of liver disease and the effect of alcohol on fetuses.
Beverage Lobby Warning
Professor Ian Gilmour, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, called on Britain to follow Ireland's example: "Transparency is not an option but a right for consumers... "The current opacity prevents people from making informed health decisions.
Warnings such as "drink in moderation" are no longer enough, he said, calling for explicit messages linking drinking to cancer.
Industry rejects and defends
However, the proposal was dismissed by the alcohol industry as overkill. The Portman Group, funded by the alcohol industry, said: "Blanket cancer warnings can create anxiety and lead to a loss of trust in health advice."
She argued that most packs on the UK market already display guidelines urging not to exceed 14 units of alcohol per week.
Support from the World Health Organization
Clear warnings on alcohol, especially those related to cancer, are a basic health right, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It also called on European governments to adopt this step to counter the growing harms of alcohol.
In the United States, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that alcohol is responsible for nearly 100,000 cancer cases annually, making it the third most preventable cause of cancer after smoking and obesity.
The British government's position
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare said: "We recognize that alcohol poses a real risk to public health... "We will work to shift the health system towards prevention, including early intervention to enable citizens to live longer and healthier lives.
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