CSPI supports U.S. Surgeon General’s call for cancer warnings on alcohol labels

The Center for Science in the Public Interest applauds today’s release of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk which recommends updating alcoholic beverage labels to include cancer warnings. 

The science is clear: alcohol causes cancer. Yet, too many Americans remain in the dark about the significant link between alcohol and cancer. 

The move follows a 2020 letter sent to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy by CSPI, the American Institute for Cancer Research, Consumer Federation of America, and U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, requesting this very action.  

Currently, alcohol labels require a Surgeon General warning stating that alcohol “may cause health problems” – a gross and misleading understatement of alcohol’s known health impacts. To change the health warning statement, the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), in consultation with the Surgeon General, must report to Congress on the need for updates. CSPI and 6 other public health organizations petitioned TTB to issue such a report in 2020. 

We urge TTB and Congress to act swiftly to promote a more informed public and prevent the 20,000 annual cancer deaths attributable to alcohol, according to the Surgeon General’s advisory.