US Surgeon General calls for cancer warnings on alcoholic beverage labels 

USA – The US Surgeon General has issued an advisory recommending updates to alcoholic beverage labels to include warnings about the risks of cancer.  

The document, titled “Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk”, highlights the direct connection between alcohol consumption and an increased risk of several types of cancer. 

The advisory identifies alcohol as the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco use and obesity.  

It underscores that alcohol consumption is linked to cancers of the breast, colorectum, oesophagus, liver, mouth, throat, and voice box, regardless of the type of alcohol consumed. 

The Surgeon General’s office emphasized that cancer risk increases with alcohol intake, and evidence suggests that even low levels of consumption—such as one or fewer drinks per day—can elevate the risk for breast, mouth, and throat cancers. 

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for revising the health warning labels on alcoholic beverages to include information about cancer risks.  

He also advocated for reevaluating the recommended limits for alcohol consumption based on the latest research to account for cancer-related dangers. 

“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 US,” said Murthy. 

“This is greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the US, yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk. This advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm.” 

The advisory also urged public health professionals and community organizations to raise awareness about alcohol as a leading modifiable risk factor for cancer.  

Americans were encouraged to consider the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk when deciding whether to drink or how much to consume. 

This action follows a 2020 letter to Dr. Murthy from public health advocacy groups, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the American Institute for Cancer Research, urging updates to alcoholic beverage labels. 

In 2023, Ireland became the first European Union country to mandate health warnings on alcohol labels, with the law set to take effect in 2026.  

Similarly, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction issued guidance warning that no level of alcohol consumption is risk-free, recommending a maximum of two drinks per week. 

These developments come as data from the online research data and analytics group YouGov revealed that imported beers became more popular than American-brewed beers for the first time in 2024, reflecting shifting consumer preferences in the US beer market. 

Of the top 10 most popular beers in the US during the third quarter of 2024, only five American-made beers feature (Blue Moon, Miller, Coors and Miller High Life), all of which ranked lower for popularity than imported brews from Ireland, Mexico and Holland. 

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