The surgeon general of the United States, Vivek H. Murthy, called this Friday to place warnings about the risk of cancer in alcoholic beverages, adding that recommended limits on alcohol consumption should also be reevaluated, due to an increased risk of develop this disease.
Alcohol consumption is the third-largest preventable cause of cancer in the United States, Murthy said in a statement. He cited that the disease contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 deaths related every year in the country.
“Increased alcohol consumption increases the risk of alcohol-related cancer, but only 45% of American adults are aware that consuming alcohol increases their risk of developing cancer,” Murthy wrote on the social network X.
Any mandatory changes to health warning labels would have to be approved by Congress. President-elect Donald Trump has announced that Janette Nesheiwat, a family physician and former Fox News contributor, will be the next surgeon general.
A surgeon general warning is a public statement that draws the attention of the American people to an urgent public health problem and offers recommendations on how to address it. Their advisories are reserved for important public health issues that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.
In his advice, Murthy described health warning labels as “well-established and effective approaches to increasing awareness of health hazards and encouraging behavior change.”
He noted that current warnings, which express caution about alcohol consumption during pregnancy and about the impact of alcohol on driving cars or machinery, have not been updated since 1988.
Topics previously covered in the Surgeon General’s advisories include youth mental health, health misinformation, addiction and substance abuse, and tobacco.
