Washington: The United States’ top government doctor on Friday urged health warnings on alcoholic beverages to highlight that they cause cancer and to re-evaluate daily consumption limits because of the dangers. Emphasized.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the link between alcohol and cancer has been known since the 1980s, with mounting evidence reinforcing the risks. Yet, mandatory warning labels fail to address the health risk.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer, responsible for nearly 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths in the United States,” Murthy emphasized in a statement. is.” The year
“Yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this threat,” he added, stressing the urgent need for public education.
Introduced in 1988, the current warning label simply states that “women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects” and that “consumption of alcoholic beverages while driving or operating machinery impairs ability, and can cause health problems.”