Mother Jones has just reported that alcohol has been proven to be a known carcinogen and the alcohol industry is downplaying the link to cancer: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/did-drinking-give-me-breast-cancer/
I quickly discovered that way back in 1988, the World Health Organization declared alcohol a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning that it's been proved to cause cancer. There is no known safe dosage in humans, according to the WHO. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, but it kills more women from breast cancer than from any other. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that for every drink consumed daily, the risk of breast cancer goes up 7 percent.
The research linking alcohol to breast cancer is deadly solid. There's no controversy here. Alcohol, regardless of whether it's in Everclear or a vintage Bordeaux, is carcinogenic. More than 100 studies over several decades have reaffirmed the link with consistent results. The National Cancer Institute says alcohol raises breast cancer risk even at low levels.
Over the past two decades, the alcohol industry has gone all out to tie its products to an active lifestyle. Peter Cressy, the former CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), the liquor lobby, explained in 2000, "DISCUS is working to ensure cultural acceptance of alcohol beverages by 'normalizing' them in the minds of consumers as a healthy part of a normal lifestyle."
Alcohol companies, long sponsors of football games and NASCAR events, now sponsor 5K races and triathlons. During last year's Super Bowl, a Michelob Ultra ad featured extremely fit people working out and then grabbing a beer to quench their thirst. (Drinking alcohol after exercise causes dehydration and impedes muscle recovery.) Hard liquor companies concocted products like Devotion Spirits vodka, which supposedly contained a protein that would help build muscle while preventing hangovers. (In 2012, Devotion Spirits withdrew many of its health claims after the Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation.)
Indeed, the supposed health upside of moderate drinking is one of the industry's go-to talking points. When Mother Jones reached out to the leading beer and liquor companies and the major industry groups, those that responded acknowledged the connection between alcohol and cancer, but some argued the risk belongs mostly or entirely to heavy drinkers. Sarah Longwell, the managing director of the American Beverage Institute, said in a statement that "a substantial number of well-conducted studies reveal no correlation between cancer and moderate to light alcohol consumption." Moderate drinking, she noted, has been found to reduce the risk of heart disease, among other benefits. "There has been a concerted effort by some researchers to reverse that knowledge," she said in an earlier conversation. "I think it is flying in the face of good science."
