Aussie drink-driving laws have similar penalties, but our BAC level is still at .05. This will be moved to .02 in the coming years. Be safe for you, your family and the person you may injure because, you thought you were ‘ok to drive!’
SHOULD YOU BE DRIVING? DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE....EVER!
In their latest policy brief, the World Heart Foundation (WHF) establishes the evidence base that no amount of alcohol is good for the heart. The latest scientific evidence shows that any amount of alcohol use, even low-doses, can harm cardiovascular health. The policy brief by WHF calls for urgent and decisive action to tackle the unprecedented rise in alcohol-related death and disability worldwide.
The World Heart Federation has released a policy brief establishing that no amount of alcohol is good for the heart. The brief calls for urgent and decisive action to tackle the unprecedented rise in alcohol-related death and disability worldwide.
“The portrayal of alcohol as necessary for a vibrant social life has diverted attention from the harms of alcohol use, as have the frequent and widely publicised claims that moderate [alcohol use], such as a glass of red wine a day, can offer protection against cardiovascular disease,” said Monika Arora, Member of the WHF Advocacy Committee and co-author of the brief, as per WHF website. These claims are at best misinformed and at worst an attempt by the alcohol industry to mislead the public about the danger of their product.”
Monika Arora, member of the WHF Advocacy Committee, co-author of the brief
A winning combination, if one of your goals for alcohol use is to induce cancer – But and utter disaster if your design is to minimise cancer risk. You’d think this now unassailably confirmed health harm reality would be getting major media attention and robust government enabled public health action, yet we have seen thus far, it would appear merely an ‘eyebrow’ raise. One could launch into a speculative diatribe as to why this revelation – years in the emergence – is raise so little ire in the government and health sector at least. Big Alcohol’s spin, perhaps the tacit leverage that their industry can exercise due to their fiscal contributions to our ‘Night-time Economies’. Perhaps other less observable measures that curry favour within the political sphere – regardless of leanings? Again, speculation, but one thing doesn’t change is that the ever mounting harms from alcohol are continuing to take both short and long-term toll on our private and public health. The historically paraded and deeply concerning health harms of alcohol have traditionally been the demolition of the vital organ of our livers. Of course, the damage to the brain from alcohol use, let alone misuse is well-documented, and (after years of study) the shocking harms alcohol does to the developing foetus saw a new spectrum of life long and incurable harms done known as Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
Alcohol has been rated a Group One Carcinogen, alongside other ‘fun products’ such as asbestos, and it’s not merely a correlation issue with one cancer, but causal in at least seven cancers types, including breast, mouth and throat cancers.
This is really, really bad news for Big Alcohol and there is no doubt that there will be industry vested interests in keeping a lid on this as long as possible – perhaps that’s another factor in the underwhelming response to this emerging public health nightmare?
We know from research released as far back as 2015, alcohol companies saw the emerging, (then) correlation with heavy alcohol consumption and breast cancer and cynically started incorporating anti-cancer branding in their promotions. This‘Pink Washing’ of their carcinogenic products was called out in a study released by Alcohol Justice as “devaluing and undermining of vital breast cancer charity work.”
Of course, this strategy of faux philanthropy is common place with addiction for profit industries like Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol and now Big Cannabis, all downplaying harms, but simultaneously conceding that…“if there may be some minor side effects, we’re willing to chip in a few dollars to manage that minimal damage”, well so the sentiment goes.
Decision Making: Knowledge is Power – Creating Awareness in a Culture of Silence Returning to the low hum response to this clearly disturbing reality that, along with all the other harms of this legal ‘recreational’ or self-medicating product, cancers are now a very real outcome of alcohol use.
It would appear it’s not all about consumer indifference, i.e. putting their fingers in their ears and trying to ignore it – no, there’s much more going on than wilful ignorance.
In data released in 2018, via an article posted in Prevention in Oncology, discussing the raising awareness on alcohol and cancer, it was more than wilful ignorance that is undermining awareness. Whilst only around 30% of the 4000+ poll was aware of alcohol as a cancer risk only about 38% of those would limit their alcohol consumption to reduce cancer risk. In this poll however, there were around 70% of people still unaware of this concerning connection.
One can only speculate, but if a more aggressive campaign of awareness was in motion, then (at least on extrapolation of the above statistics) around 40% of the entire polled cohort may adjust their drinking habits, but we’d suspect it may be much more.
For instance, A study conducted as early as 2017, by the University of Adelaide discovered that once genuine awareness was created around this issue, protective decision making was engaged, especially by the youth cohort; “More than 2800 school students aged 12-17 were surveyed about their drinking behaviour by Adelaide University and South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) researchers. Those aged 14-17 were deterred from drinking if they knew about the link between alcohol and cancer, but only 28 per cent of students were aware of the connection.”
There are different ways one can do that. Certainly, raising alcohol excise can generate awareness. Hitting the ‘hip pocket nerve’, has known to be an effective way to amend some behaviours.
In 2021 The World Health Organization – Europe release a study and recommendation that stated the following;Doubling current alcohol excise duties could avoid just under 6% (or 180,900 cases and 85,100 deaths) of new alcohol-attributable cancers within the WHO European Region, particularly in Member States of the European Union where excise duties are in many cases very low. So, enacting such an excise is certainly a weapon in the public health arsenal against alcohol induced cancer.
Early this year a credible noise was not only coming out of the Canadian health sector, it got some global traction. Whilst they were not the first to push for Cancer Warning Labels on alcohol products, they were the first to glean some global attention. Part of that attention may also be due to the accompany recommendation that healthier drinking styles should now be officially promoted as only two standard drinks per week (as opposed to a current general medical recommendation of no more than two standard drinks a day)
Dalgarno Institute, as one of scores of members of Movendi International, have not only commended them for their early leadership in calling for cancer warning labels on alcohol products, but joined with them in promoting their research and advocacy.
But there is more we can still do. Dalgarno Institute is again pleased to join with and support Movendi International’s call for a ‘louder voice’ in the marketplace.
As previously mentioned in this article, the public health voice and the citizen advocacy that should accompany that is being dimmed, dulled, diminished by a number of influences – some we have suggested and some we don’t fully know. However, we do need to get louder and louder on this.
Consequently, on this World Cancer Day 4th February 2023, we want to not only point out the need for a greater voice on this public health crisis, but call for you to join with us in creating that louder voice. Dalgarno Institute is joining the Movendi International LOUD 4 CHANGE campaign in actively generating greater awareness of the Alcohol and Cancer Crisis. You can join with us in simple ways, for starters,
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“No studies have shown that the potential existence of a protective effect for cardiovascular diseases or type 2 diabetes also reduces the risk of cancer for an individual consumer. Evidence does not indicate the existence of a particular threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol start to manifest in the human body. As such, no safe amount of alcohol consumption for cancers and health can be established. Alcohol consumers should be objectively informed about the risks of cancer and other health conditions associated with alcohol consumption.”
Health authorities in Canada have released new guidelines on alcohol consumption, recommending one to two standard drinks per week as "low risk".
What do Australia's guidelines say? Australia's guidelines to reduce the risks associated with drinking alcohol were revised in December 2020. They recommend healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four on any one day. "The less you drink, the lower your risk of harm from alcohol," they state. Professor Kuntsche said these revised guidelines are more restrictive than the previous ones. "But countries like Canada are further ahead in that game. I really welcome their approach towards even more conservative guidelines," he said. Ms Hughes said the 2020 revisions reflect an "enormous piece of work" and that Cancer Council is not calling for a review.
Calls for mandatory alcohol labelling The report also recommends mandatory labelling of all alcoholic beverages with health warnings. It states evidence has shown that added warnings can increase public awareness of the causal link with cancer and reduce consumption. Professor Pettigrew said this has been proposed for some time in Australia but has yet to come to fruition. "It took more than a decade to get a pregnancy warning label approved for alcoholic beverages in Australia," she said, adding plans are currently underway to implement warnings on alcoholic beverages in Europe. "There is much to gained from ensuring drinkers are informed," she said. Ms Hughes said Cancer Council is aware of the role warning labels can play in improving community awareness, but that this shouldn't be the only way consumers are made aware of alcohol-related risks. "It's not just the label - that would need to be part of a bigger strategy to raise awareness of alcohol-related harms," she said.
What's next for Australia? Professor Pettigrew said she hopes Australia "will continue to move in the same direction with our guidelines to ensure the community understands the risks associated with alcohol consumption". For Professor Kuntsche, ongoing discussion about guidelines and new evidence is crucial to change drinking norms in the long run. "When it comes to alcohol, one thing that should not be forgotten is we don't have to drink. But we have our consumption norms. And that's the big problem," he said. Analysis from the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that about three in four Australians aged 14 and over had consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months. Almost one in two people (45 per cent) approved of regular use of alcohol by adults - higher than for any other drug. "If we keep the discussion going, I hope the cultural norms will shift towards more restrictive consumption norms - and in this context, the guidelines are very important," he said. Ms Hughes said raising awareness of the guidelines and investing in promotion is crucial. "There is still a big way to go to tackle the alcohol culture in Australia," she said. "Alcohol is identified as a priority substance in the National Drug Strategy, with the consumption of alcohol contributing toward a range of adverse health outcomes, and significantly increasing Australia's burden of disease," it said.
Well, the Canadians have ‘stepped up’ in the now well-established Alcohol and Cancer correlation and causation.
The cancer connection with alcohol had been ‘lurking’ for many years, but in the last four or so years, it has been undeniably established. Canada is just the most recent place that the bold declarations have been made in the Public Health arena. (one must wonder though, if this profiling isn’t in some way an attempt to get eyes off the cannabis crisis and growing harms – but one can only speculate.)
For example in 2018 after reviewing data and research as far back as 2016, The Lancet sent a ‘shot across the bow’ of the alcohol industry declaring that For Your Health, No Amount of Alcohol Is Safe and it was a harbinger of looming data that cancer appears to be a risk factor.
Canadian Health experts and researchers are now lobbying their policy makers and politicians to have ‘cancer warning’ labels on all alcohol, such is the concern over this Class one carcinogen. It’s time all jurisdictions adopted this measure, not just for the Cancer issue, but F.A.S.D and other diseases caused by this legal substance.
nce base that no amount of alcohol is good for the heart.
Consequently, on this 
