While Canada has not required cancer warnings on alcoholic beverages, some experts are supporting a new initiative in the United States to include labels on products.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is calling for updating the 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 the products they consume, especially products that are often sold by governments,” Erin Hobin, a scientist at Public Health Ontario who has studied the effectiveness of labels, said in a report. warning about alcohol. video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. “I think there is an opportunity for Canada to strengthen its alcohol labeling regulations purely from a consumer right-to-know perspective.”
The need for warnings is pressing given that the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified alcoholic beverages as group 1 carcinogens, the highest risk level, he said. What’s more, evidence has grown about the link between alcohol and cancer, Hobin added.
“Alcohol is confirmed to be causally linked to at least seven types of cancer, including those of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, colon, breast and liver,” he said.
Similarly, Dr Peter Butt welcomes the push to include cancer warning labels on alcohol. Butt is an associate clinical professor at the University of Saskatchewan Faculty of Medicine in Saskatoon.
“I think it’s time for this position to be taken on a national level,” Butt, whose clinical and research work focuses on substance use disorders, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. “We have certainly made that recommendation with respect to our Canadian guide 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 carcinogenic, including wine, spirits, beer and cider, because of the ethanol they contain.
Butt said the greater the amount of the carcinogen ethanol in an alcoholic beverage, the greater the risk of developing cancer, although he cautioned that “there is no safe amount.”
He said it’s a myth that alcohol like wine can be “heart healthy.”
“We know that it causes high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation and cardiac arrhythmias,” he said. Additionally, he said alcohol is toxic to the liver and causes birth defects.
Will the warnings be effective?
Hobin believes cancer warnings will be effective in reducing alcohol consumption.
“The evidence is stronger in favor of a cancer warning on alcohol packaging in terms of attracting consumer attention because the majority of adults in Canada do not know that alcohol causes cancer,” Hobin said, citing a survey Health Canada national 2023.
Additionally, he pointed to another study he participated in that suggests that “alcohol container labels with health warnings or comprehensive information could influence some alcohol consumption behaviors.”
The study, which was a systematic review, was published in the journal The Lancet Public Health in July 2024.
With CNN archives
