The World Health Organization has released new findings about an "alarming" lack of awareness about alcohol's link to cancer across Europe and called for clear and prominent tobacco-style warnings in the region with the world's heaviest drinkers.
The global health agency has repeatedly warned that alcohol causes cancer and has backed clear labeling but has never before been as prescriptive in its call for new government regulations.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Surgeon General also called for warnings of cancer risks on alcoholic drink labels.
Alcohol causes 800,000 deaths across Europe each year but just a fraction of the population is aware of the risks, the WHO's Europe office said. Its study found that just 15% of respondents knew that alcohol can cause breast cancer and 39% were aware of its link to colon cancer.
"Despite cancer being the leading cause of alcohol-attributable deaths in the European Union (EU), public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer remains alarmingly low," the WHO said.
Relying on self-regulation, as the industry would prefer, brings the risk that alcohol producers use "inconspicuous placement and ambiguous messaging" or use QR codes which tend to be ignored by shoppers, it said.
Instead, alcoholic drinks should display "clear and prominent health warnings" in written format which could be combined with pictures "to maximize reach and empower consumers with clear, accurate information to make informed choices about their health," it said.
Pictograms and simple text-only messages can be just as effective as more graphic photographs, a spokesperson said when asked about the types of warnings.
Currently, just three out of 27 EU countries - France, Lithuania and Germany - have some form of warning labels, the WHO said. Ireland plans broader cancer warnings on alcoholic drinks from May 2026, it said.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
10 Comments
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virusrex
The warning labels should have been in place from a long time ago, even if only to make the situation congruent with what is done with tobacco. Still, it may not have such a strong effect since alcohol lead to much more immediate health problems compared with cancer that people are usually well aware of.
Hawk
Don't trust anything the WHO says. Debunked and disgraced medical professionals with youtube channels tell us that alcohol and tobacco are perfectly fine and people should be smoking and drinking more!
Mr Kipling
Absolutely!
Stay in the pink with ciggies and drink!
robert maes
I hope they close that corrupt Chinese organisation down immedit
virusrex
Which one? the one that repeatedly and harshly criticized the Chinese government because of their way of dealing with the beginnings of the pandemic, because they didn't allowed international researchers to properly investigate the way the virus spread from animals and the way the government caused thousands of unnecessary deaths by abandoning the zero case tolerance without first properly inoculating the population?
Because it would be impossible to believe that the CCP allows a Chinese organization to do any of those things.
USNinJapan2
Oh go away WHO. Everything can cause cancer. Leave people alone to make decisions, poor ones or otherwise.
ClippetyClop
Those decisions, poor ones or otherwise, can be better made if you have better information. They aren't banning booze. It's still your choice.
Would you rather not know?
Nifty
Labels are not the best form of education, and in any case, people will do as they like until they don't, even if is really, really stupid.
virusrex
To the same significant degree? no, not at all. People do care about it, and if you don't care then you also would find irrelevant the warnings.
And people remain healthy until they don't, the important part is that some people do care about their health and want to make better choices, something that is facilitated by having better information available.