Alcoholic drinks should carry cancer warning label, U.S. surgeon general says – National [Video]

Alcoholic drinks should carry a label warning consumers about their cancer risks, the U.S. Surgeon General said in an advisory on Friday, noting that their consumption increases the risk of developing breast, colon, liver and other cancers.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also called for the guidelines on alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed so that people can weigh the cancer risk when deciding whether or how much to drink, alongside current warnings on birth defects and impairments when operating machinery.

Shares of U.S.-listed alcoholic beverage makers fell between one per cent and twp per cent in premarket trading, with Brown-Forman Corp BFb.N leading the declines.

“Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, increasing risk for at least seven types of cancer,” Murthy’s office said in a statement accompanying the new report.

It is responsible for 100,000 U.S. cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths each year, more than the 13,500 …