A new study finds updated warning labels pointing out the increased risks of specific diseases, like cancer, would do a better job of encouraging people to drink less alcohol than the current warning.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Would you be more likely to drink less if you had been warned that alcohol raises the risk of cancer or dementia? A new study on alcohol warning labels suggests the answer is yes. The study comes at a time when public health researchers are increasingly emphasizing the health harms linked to drinking. Here to tell us more is NPR’s Maria Godoy. Hi, Maria.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: I am trying to remember. What do the current alcohol warning labels on bottles say?
GODOY: So the labels we have now in the U.S. haven’t changed since the late 1980s, and they warn about drinking during pregnancy and drinking and driving or operating heavy machinery. And then there’s also this vague notice that alcohol, quote, “may cause health problems.” And all that is true. But Anna Grummon – she’s a researcher at Stanford – she says most people tune out those labels, and the warnings haven’t kept pace with the mounting research about the other health harms of alcohol.
ANNA GRUMMON: For example, we’ve known for many years that alcohol contributes to cancer, but most Americans aren’t aware of that link.
GODOY: And, you know, alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer behind tobacco and obesity. So Grummon and her colleagues wanted to see if more messages that were more specific about the health harms of alcohol would do a better job of spreading awareness and motivating people to want to drink less.
KELLY: So did they test that? Did they try out new messages?
GODOY: Yeah, they did. They actually came up with eight new labels. Most of them warned about a range of health harms linked to drinking, like cancer or liver disease or dementia and hypertension. And then they had more than a thousand U.S. adults read them in random order along with a control message and then, you know, the current warning. And they found that these messages, the new ones, did a better job at informing people about the risks and motivating them to cut back.
KELLY: Interesting. So is there movement to update the warning labels?
GODOY: Well, so yes, calls for this have been growing over the years. So just before he left his post early last year, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, he called for requiring alcohol labels to inform consumers about the risks of cancer. He issued a report detailing how alcohol increases the risks of seven different types of cancer, including breast, colorectal and mouth cancer. And then last summer, some two dozen consumer and public health groups called on the Trump administration to add a cancer warning to alcohol labels.
But meanwhile, the Trump administration has kind of moved in the opposite direction. They pulled a major report on the health harms of alcohol last year, and they removed specific daily limits on drinking from the latest dietary guidelines for Americans. The guidelines now just say drink less for better health.
KELLY: So where does that land us? Like, what does that mean for efforts to pass stronger warning labels?
GODOY: Well, I talked to Thomas Gremillion of the Consumer Federation of America. That’s one of the groups behind that petition. And he said he doesn’t expect any action on the federal level anytime soon, but there has been some movement at the state level. Alaska, for example, passed a bill that requires a cancer warning at the point of sale for alcohol retailers.
I also reached out to the Distilled Spirits Council, an industry trade group. In a statement, Amanda Berger with the council said the industry is committed to following existing label laws. She also said, quote, “we do not recommend that anyone drink to achieve health benefits.”
KELLY: NPR’s Maria Godoy, thank you.
GODOY: My pleasure.
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