Politico

Credit  Source  Based on UK survey

There is a “direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers” — that’s what Irish health officials want their country’s drinkers to know each time they look at a bottle of alcohol, reports the European edition of Politico.  Even as producers of wine, beers and spirits fret about any European Commission regulation that would force them to list ingredients and calories on their products, health officials in Dublin are making a big push for what the alcohol industry considers a nightmare scenario: mandatory cancer warnings on liquor. “Reducing alcohol intake is an important step in reducing the burden of cancer,” Irish Health Minister Simon Harris said in February, ahead of submitting to the parliament a bill with proposals that include some of the toughest provisions on alcohol labeling on the Continent, including a label stating the link between drinking and cancer. “This is a landmark piece of public health legislation which will make a real difference when it comes to reducing the harm caused by alcohol,” Harris added.

In this five minute video, Michael Greger summarizes the evidence on alcohol’s role in cancer.  And in a March 2018 article in Drug and Alcohol Review, the authors conclude that the alcohol industry “appears to be engaged in the extensive misrepresentation of evidence about the alcohol-related risk of cancer. These activities have parallels with those of the tobacco industry. This finding is important because the industry is involved in developing alcohol policy in many countries, and in disseminating health information to the public, including school children. Policymakers, academics, public health and other practitioners should reconsider the appropriateness of their relationships to these alcohol industry bodies.”