US Surgeon General Calls for Cancer Warning Labels on Alcohol

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy speaks during the U.S. Conference of Mayors 91st Winter Meeting in Washington on Jan. 18, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on Friday that alcohol consumption could lead to a risk of developing cancer, calling for an updated warning label on alcoholic drinks.

“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,” he said in a statement.

Murthy called for the guidelines on alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed so that people can weigh the cancer risk when deciding whether or how much to drink, alongside current warnings on birth defects and impairments when operating machinery.

According to his office, alcohol is the “third leading preventable cause of cancer” in the United States after tobacco and obesity, while many Americans are not aware of the risk.

“This Advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm,” Murthy said.

Alcoholic beverages in the United States currently carry a health warning label that advises pregnant women to not drink them and that their consumption impairs a person’s ability to drive a car or operate machinery. This label has not changed since its inception in 1988.

“The direct link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk is well-established for at least seven types of cancer,” his statement said, adding that the risk can occur “regardless of the type of alcohol” consumed such as beer, wine, or spirits.

The beverages can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and voice box, it added.

Murthy’s statement says health care providers should encourage alcohol screening and treatment referrals as needed and that efforts to increase general awareness should be expanded.

In September, a report released by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) said that 5.4 percent of all cancer cases are linked to alcohol consumption.

“Unfortunately, awareness about the link between alcohol and cancer is still low, highlighting the need for public messaging campaigns, such as cancer-specific warning labels displayed on alcoholic beverages, along with effective clinical strategies to reduce the burden of alcohol-related cancers,” the organization said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in late 2022 that “no level of alcohol is safe” for one’s health, noting it is a “toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance” listed as a carcinogen, meaning it may cause cancer.

However, an analysis from Harvard University found that some studies, including one published in August 2024 that warned that no level of alcohol is safe, “failed to give enough context or probe deeply enough to understand” the limitations of the study.

That study appeared to have “cherry-picked subgroups of a larger study previously used by researchers, including one of us, who concluded that limited drinking in a recommended pattern correlated with lower mortality risk,” the analysis said.

“We need more high-quality evidence to assess the health impacts of moderate alcohol consumption. And we need the media to treat the subject with the nuance it requires. Newer studies are not necessarily better than older research,” it added.

A surgeon general’s warning for alcohol regarding its potential cancer risk would require approval from Congress.

Shares in European-listed liquor companies Diageo and Pernod Ricard were both down by more than 3 percent, while beer makers Heineken and Anheuser-Busch InBev also slipped. Shares of U.S.-listed alcoholic beverage makers such as Constellation Brands Brown-Forman Corp. and Molson Coors fell by between 1 percent and 2 percent in early trading on Friday.

Reuters contributed to this report.