Alcohol

Ronald Bailey | 1.6.2025 5:30 PM

Our national health scold, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, issued an advisory on his way out of office, asserting that drinking beer, wine, and liquor is "a leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States." The report warns that for some cancers, "evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day." It is worth noting that the current U.S. dietary guidelines suggest that alcohol consumption should be limited to two drinks per day for men and one per day for women.

Specifically, Murthy's advisory asserts that drinking is associated with an "increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx), and voice box (larynx)."

Inexplicably, Murthy did not address the comprehensive review of evidence on alcohol and health issued two weeks earlier by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS).

Contrary to the surgeon general's claims, the NAS report determined that "no conclusion could........

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