No, Moderate Drinking Won't Give You Cancer

 

"Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has done more to politicize science and erode trust in public-health leaders than anyone other than Anthony Fauci. Dr. Murthy was at it again on Friday with a headline-grabbing report that recommends alcohol be distributed with cancer warnings.

The report warns that, for some cancers, "evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day." Note the operative word, may. 

The link between heavy drinking and throat and mouth cancer is well-established -- but not for moderate consumption.

Two weeks earlier the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a congressionally mandated review of the recent evidence on the health effects of moderate drinking, or up to one drink a day for women and two for men. Its more than 200 pages of findings run counter to Dr. Murthy's 22-page report, though they got scant attention in the press.

The academies found insufficient evidence to support a link between moderate drinking and oral, pharyngeal, esophageal, laryngeal and other cancers. It did find a slightly higher risk of breast cancer with moderate drinking but also a lower risk of death generally and from cardiovascular disease specifically compared with never drinking.

No matter. Dr. Murthy claims that "alcohol use," not only abuse, is a "leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, contributing to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year." This estimate is based on models of associations from cherry-picked observational studies. But even the report partially attributes only 17% of these estimated deaths to moderate drinking. Of the 609,820 cancer deaths in 2023, this would mean moderate drinking contributed to 3,400, or about 0.6%. Dr. Murthy's claims about alcohol's cancer risks are misleading but typical of his reports, which are intended to drive a political agenda.

Let's review the roll. His first advisory, in 2021, declared "health misinformation" a "serious threat." It warned that "misinformation has caused confusion and led people to decline COVID-19 vaccines, reject public health measures such as masking and physical distancing, and use unproven treatments."

The surgeon general urged tech companies to "strengthen the monitoring of misinformation," "prioritize early detection of misinformation 'super-spreaders' and repeat offenders" and "redesign recommendation algorithms to avoid amplifying misinformation." In other words: Censor Covid views that he and Dr. Fauci didn't like.

Covid contrarians later sued Dr. Murthy and other public-health officials for violating their speech rights. While the Supreme Court ruled last year in Murthy v. Missouri that there was insufficient evidence to prove tech platforms censored the plaintiffs in direct response to government pressure, the link was far clearer than the one between moderate drinking and cancer.

Next came Dr. Murthy's 2022 report on "workplace mental health," which was informed "by the voices of many workers and unions." The report claimed that jobs are a key cause of mental illness and chronic stress "as more and more workers are worried about making ends meet." Blame the latter on inflation fueled by Democratic spending.

Dr. Murthy's solution? Require employers to provide paid family leave and "an equitable, stable, and predictable living wage before overtime, tips, and commission." He also advocated increasing the minimum wage as a way to reduce the suicide rate, as well as "mitigating harmful impacts in the work environment" with "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility" policies.

Dr. Murthy prescribed similar left-wing antidotes in his 2023 advisory on "our epidemic of loneliness and isolation," which it says "came to the forefront of public consciousness" during the pandemic. Never mind that Dr. Murthy's promotion of lockdowns exacerbated the problem. To improve "social connection," he advised "increased access to public transit." Has he ever ridden the New York subway?

Next the surgeon general issued an advisory on "Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America." The report's recommendations included a ban on ill-defined "assault weapons," restrictions on concealed- and open-carry permits and increasing criminal liability for shooting a firearm after being attacked if you could have instead "safely retreated."

Another health hazard: children. Dr. Murthy last autumn issued a report detailing the stresses of raising kids, which he recommended mitigating with government child-care subsidies, tax credits, universal preschool and early childhood-education programs.

More government is Dr. Murthy's prescription for every social and public-health ailment. Given this record, why would anyone take his latest warning about alcohol and cancer seriously?

He might have done some good had he drawn attention to actual public-health problems like teenage marijuana use or post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans. But such advisories wouldn't get headlines or advance the left's goal of expanding government control over Americans. So instead he used his government pulpit to promote himself and progressive policies. Good riddance to him and his fellow health czars in the Biden administration." [1]

1.  Life Science: No, Moderate Drinking Won't Give You Cancer. Finley, Allysia.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 06 Jan 2025: A17.