Labels warning of the health risks associated with alcohol are seen on bottles involved in a labelling test program in Yukon.
Victoria, B.C.-Health professionals in Canada are joining forces to help people realize that alcohol is one of top causes of preventable cancer. They say that few Canadians know the truth: Any amount of alcohol can cause cancer.
"Even drinking one drink a day increases your risk of some cancers-including, if you're a woman, breast cancer-but also cancers of the digestive system, the mouth, stomach," Tim Stockwell, a senior scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria told CBC news recently. "The risk increases with every drink you take."
Nearly a decade ago, in 2013, Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) printed findings showing that alcohol is a major contributor to cancer deaths and years of potential life lost. Their findings also reveal that reducing alcohol consumption is an important cancer prevention strategy as alcohol is a known carcinogen.
Alcohol consumption, even in a small degree, is a risk factor for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and breast. Estimates show that alcohol accounts for four percent of all cancer-related deaths worldwide, with breast cancer topping the list of alcohol attributable cancer deaths in women. Women who enjoy moderate alcohol consumption can increase a woman's risk of developing the disease 30 to 50 percent, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Alcohol-attributed cancers of the mouth, throat and esophagus were more common in men.
Although higher levels of alcohol consumption led to a higher cancer risk, average consumption of 1.5 drinks per day or less accounted for 30 percent of all alcohol-attributable cancer deaths.
"The relationship between alcohol and cancer is strong, but is not widely appreciated by the public and remains underemphasized even by physicians," said Timothy Naimi, who served as the paper's senior author. "Alcohol is a big preventable cancer risk factor that has been hiding in plain sight."
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, alcohol has been classified as a carcinogenic as dangerous as tobacco and asbestos. Alcohol is also a top cause of preventable cancer after smoking and obesity.
But according to the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, only about 25 percent of Canadian drinkers know that alcohol can cause cancer.
Stockwell wants to change that, and he and other health experts are advocating for cancer warning labels on alcohol containers. People need to know, he told CBC News, that though there are other genetic and lifestyle factors that contribute to developing cancer, every drink comes with a risk.
"The risk from alcohol, it's a dose response. The bigger and more frequent the dose, the higher your risk."
And according to statistics, Canadians increased their drinking during the pandemic with alcohol and cannabis sales across Canada rising by over $2.6 billion. Soaring pandemic alcohol sales have triggered concerns of an impending global increase in cancer.
It doesn't help that in society, drinking is normalized and celebrated as a form of relaxation and reward. Some people claim they drink for heart health. But most people don't know that most studies suggesting cardiovascular health benefits from moderate drinking have been debunked.
Dr. Fawaad Iqbal, a radiation oncologist at the Durham Regional Cancer Centre in Oshawa, Ont. is fighting for broader recognition of the cancer dangers that come with alcohol consumption.
"It's shocking. In an information era, we have warning labels on everything I can think of. I bought my kids fishing rods this summer, and their fishing rods have warning labels that say this fishing rod can cause cancer. Whereas, you know, a level-one carcinogen that is everywhere has no particular warnings on it," he told CBC News.
Iqbal is proposing that the Canadian Medical Association advocate for alcoholic beverages to have clear cancer warnings. He's also reached out to Ontario's liquor board, provincial and federal health authorities, as well as to the prime minister.
In 2017, public health researchers and the Yukon government tested cancer warning labels. But less than a month after the cancer labels were put on, they were taken off under pressure from the alcohol industry, which claimed the labels were alarming and misleading and hinted at a legal battle the territory couldn't afford to fight. Alcohol, globally, is a $1.5 trillion a year industry. The public health researchers in Yukon say that even in the month the labels were on the containers, people remembered the lables and over four months, alcohol sales dropped by 7 percent.
Health professionals are urging governments at every level to act now to warn Canadians about the cancer risk as well as other alcohol-related diseases.
Indigenous communities are especially a concern.
Statistics Canada reported in their last fact sheet that 36 percent of off-reserve First Nation people in Ontario alone were classified as heavy drinkers, compared to 21 percent for non-Indigenous people. For all of Canada, 35 percent of off-reserve First Nation people were classified as heavy drinkers, while non-Indigenous came in at 23 percent. This excludes figures pertaining to Métis and Inuit people (28% and 27% in Ontario, and 30% and 39% Canada-wide).
Dr. Eric Yoshida, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia and chair of the Canadian Liver Foundation's Medical Advisory Committee, advocates labels on containers and other measures to raise awareness. "I think the government has to step up. I think leaving it to the education system, leaving it to the media, leaving it to people's families, I think it probably isn't good enough," he told CBC News. He added that many of his patients are young people in their 20s and 30s who were shocked to learn their drinking could actually kill them.
Breast-cancer survivor Kathy Andrews agrees, telling CBC News that had she known of the cancer risks linked to drinking, she would have abstained or consumed a lot less. "People are putting really dangerous stuff in their bodies, and they don't know. And it's not worth it."
