More than two-thirds of American adults say they drink one or more alcoholic beverages per week, but less than half are aware of the increased cancer risk from drinking. That’s according to a new U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, which recommends adding a cancer warning to alcohol labels.
James Dillard is a Penn State researcher who looks into the effects of persuasive messages. He said there are studies showing that warning labels increase awareness.
“But, of course, it's not as simple as somebody picks up a pack of cigarettes and reads a warning label and says, ‘Well, I'm never going to smoke’ or ‘I'm going to quit smoking,’" Dillard said. "There's a whole, you know, process of education and, over time, exposure.”
Dillard served on a messaging advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration.
He says warning labels might not stop someone from drinking, but can help prevent the habit from forming in others.
“Teenagers and preteens, that's really when they start to lean towards smoking and drinking," Dillard said. "And so if they're exposed to those warning messages at that time, that may delay the onset of the behavior, you know, tobacco use or alcohol use, and it might curtail it altogether.”
Dillard said messaging with new information is effective, and that many people do not know alcohol consumption increases the risk for at least seven types of cancer.
“The data indicate that liver cancer is probably front and center for people," Dillard said. "And it's the most, or one of the most, serious forms of cancer.”
Dillard said warning labels are most effective when they’re large and easy to see, communicate negative consequences, and rotate through different messages. He said tobacco packaging rotates through different messages and images, but alcohol has had the same warning for more than 30 years.
Congress has to approve any updates to the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning label on alcoholic beverages.
