Iowa City, Iowa — Almost a year after a University of Iowa report linked alcohol consumption to a greater risk of cancer, the US Surgeon General is now recommending new warning labels on all cans and bottles of booze.
Professor Paul Gilbert, in the UI Department of Community and Behavioral Health, says an update of those warning labels is long overdue.
The current warning labels on alcohol cover two topics: don’t drink while pregnant, and don’t operate a motor vehicle or heavy machinery after drinking — things Gilbert says most of us have heard for years.
Research finds that alcohol is a carcinogen, contributing to at least seven types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, liver, and all the way through the body, but Gilbert says there’s an unexpected link — to breast cancer.
The annual Cancer in Iowa report, last released in February of 2024, estimated 21,000 Iowans would be diagnosed with cancer during the year, and it found that only about 40% of people know that alcohol is a carcinogen and a risk factor for cancer. It ranked Iowa fourth in the US for the rate of alcohol-related cancers, and Iowa also ranked fourth in binge drinking. Not every cancer can be attributed to alcohol, Gilbert says, and not everyone who drinks alcohol will get cancer.
A statement from the surgeon general says: “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. — yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk.”
For help, Gilbert recommends two websites: Your Life Iowa and Rethinking Drinking.
