AUSTIN, Texas — Alcohol may soon come with a warning label after the U.S. Surgeon General announced Friday that alcohol is linked with an increased risk for cancer.
The report recommended a call for those warning labels and reassessing the guideline limits for alcohol consumption to account for cancer risk. It stated that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer and is responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer as well as 20,000 cancer deaths annually.
The news comes as Austin residents celebrate the start of 2025 by cutting down on drinking for a Dry January, a trend where people swear off alcohol for the month.
During Friday’s Dry January “Brew Thru” pop-up in Downtown Austin, Best Day Brewing CEO Tate Huffard promoted his non-alcoholic craft beer. He said his reasoning was kicking the hangovers and giving people an alternative.
“I think once people try it, they get it involved in their life,” Huffard said. “It becomes part of their habits … They feel good and they sleep better and they’re both focused.”
They’re habits Jon Abundez said he’s noticed when he cuts down on drinking. With the latest report from the Surgeon General, Abundez said it made his decision about going dry all the better.
“Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away with the drinking, so it’s nice – a little reset,” Abundez said. “Honestly, I’ve kind of been toying with the idea of maybe continuing Dry January past that. Maybe up to February, March, and I’ll see where I end up going from there.”
The U.S. surgeon’s report pointed to at least seven types of cancers including liver, breast and throat cancer.
For Vickie Dunlevy, who has been cancer-free for four years, it’s a reality. Although her cancer wasn’t alcohol-related, she doesn’t want it for anyone else.
“It scared me because I know what it’s like to go through chemo. I don’t think anyone ever wants to do that,” Dunlevy said. “I want to go and alert my children and say, ‘Stop that drinking!'”
Outside experts applauded the report, including Anna Mangum a Senior Health Strategist at the University of Texas at Austin. Mangum said the report could help create more education efforts and campaigns on the impacts of alcohol consumption.
“Hopefully this will catalyze even more awareness, more campaigns and more efforts around educating people around,” Mangum said. “The use of something that is so ubiquitous in American society.”
Mangum’s area of focus is research in the area of substance use prevention and behavior changes. Mangum noted that there was a “pandemic effect” where people were consuming more alcohol, and that trend did not necessarily falter.
However, Mangum said the younger generation is consuming less alcohol and making different choices when it comes to how they socialize.
“Young people are much more dialed into a lot of that, as we as a society learn more about health,” Mangum said. “Many people don’t understand, how alcohol impacts their lives and how it impacts their health. That’s why this report is so important.”
Beer, wine and liquor already have warning labels related to pregnant women and how alcohol can impair someone’s ability to drive. Congress would need to approve an updated warning label to show a cancer risk.