Saying Federal law requires the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau notify Congress whenever “available scientific information would justify a change in, addition to, or deletion of the (Government Warning) statement,” a group of nine health advocacy groups petitioned TTB to notify Congress the Government Warning label needs to be revised to include specific warnings about links between cancer and alcohol consumption.
The new cancer warning would be one of three government warnings that rotate through the year. The others are women should not drink during pregnancy and consumption of alcohol can impair one’s ability to drive a car or operate machinery.
The nine petitioners are Alcohol Justice, American Public Health Association, American Institute for Cancer Research, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Consumer Federation of America, Center for Science in the Public Interest, and the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance.
The proposed warning would apply to any product containing 0.5% (one-half of one percent) of alcohol by volume intended for human consumption.
In the petition, the groups stated there is scientific consensus that alcohol consumption is linked to cancer, noting that the “consensus on alcohol and cancer includes the Surgeon General.”
“The high level of alcohol consumption in the United States contributes to tens of thousands of cancer cases each year. American Cancer Society researchers estimate that, in 2014, alcohol consumption was associated with an estimated 6.4% of all cancer cases in women, or 50,110 cases, and 4.8% of all cancer cases in men, or 37,410 cases,” the petition says. It goes on to add some “10,387 U.S. deaths from colon and rectum cancer and 7,434 U.S. deaths from breast cancer were attributable to alcohol use.”
Citing a recent Surgeon General’s report, the petition asserts that “even small amounts of alcohol increase the risk of cancer,” and goes on to state “recent high-quality studies suggest moderate drinking does not in fact reduce cardiovascular disease risks or otherwise improve health.”
While “public health authorities began identifying alcohol as a carcinogen decades ago . . . few consumers are aware of the link between alcohol use and cancer,” the petition states. The American Institute for Cancer Research did a study in 2019 in which just 45% of adults identified alcohol as a cancer risk, and a National Cancer Institute survey, also in 2019, found only 32% of respondents identified cancer as a health condition that can result from drinking too much alcohol.
The petition asks that the warning labels rotate, saying rotating warning labels are more effective than static labels.
The nine petitioners are Alcohol Justice, American Institute for Cancer Research, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Public Health Association, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Consumer Federation of America, Center for Science in the Public Interest and the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance.