Today, as part of Cancer Prevention Action Week, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol problems (SHAAP) has published a guide on alcohol and cancer risks for health professionals. This sets out that alcohol is a Class A carcinogen that causes at least seven types of cancer, including breast, colon and liver.
Approximately 6.5% of deaths in Scotland in 2015 were attributable to alcohol consumption and more than one in four (28%) of these deaths were due to cancer.
The cancer risk applies to any amount of alcohol, meaning there is no level of drinking which is completely safe. Many members of the public and health professionals are unaware of this and SHAAP is calling for the Scottish Government to mandate that all alcohol manufacturers include cancer warning labels on their products.
The seven cancers are:
- Cancer of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx
- Cancer of the larynx
- Cancer of the oesophagus
- Cancer of the breast
- Colorectal cancer
- Cancer of the liver and intrahepatic bile ducts
Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, Chair of SHAAP said:
“Everybody knows that tobacco causes cancer, but too few are aware of the risks connected to alcohol. It came as a shock to me as a liver specialist to discover that alcohol is also an important risk factor for lots of types of cancer. I was not alone in that, as most members of the public, and indeed many health professionals are also unaware of this link.
“Drinking alcohol is a personal choice, but it should be an informed choice. Consumers are entitled to know the risks associated with the product they are drinking. That’s why SHAAP is calling for all alcohol products to have cancer warning labels on them.”
Read the report: https://www.shaap.org.uk/publication/alcohol-cancer-risks-a-guide-for-health-professionals-2025/