Ciara Linnane of MarketWatch reports that stocks of alcohol companies fell Friday after the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory linked alcohol to cancer risk. Dr. Vivek Murthy stated that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., responsible for around 100,000 cancer cases annually. The advisory calls for updated alcohol consumption guidelines, increased public awareness, and greater education efforts on the link between alcohol and cancer. Linnane writes:
The stocks of alcohol makers and distributors fell across the board early Friday, after the U.S. surgeon general released a new advisory warning of the link between booze and cancer risk.
Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., after tobacco and obesity, said Dr. Vivek Murthy, yet many Americans are unaware of the risk.
“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,” said Murthy.
A link between consuming alcohol and cancer risk has been determined for at least seven types of cancer, namely breast, colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx) and voice box (larynx), said Murthy. That’s regardless of the type of alcohol consumed, whether beer, wine or spirits.
About 16.4% of breast cancer cases a year are due to alcohol consumption. […]
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