“It is estimated that 10,700 new cancer cases and 4,850 alcohol-related cancer deaths could be avoided each year on the European continent, by doubling current taxes on alcoholic beverages,” says the World Health Organization (WHO). ) in a study published in The Lancet. “The United Kingdom, the Russian Federation and Germany – which together account for almost 40% of all potential lives saved – would be among the main winners of this economic measure,” adds Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, acting head of the WHO European Office and co-author of the study.
In 2020, more than 4.8 million people in the WHO European Region developed cancer. But more than 40% of these cancers could have been avoided, tobacco and alcohol being the main risk factors. “Double alcohol taxes could help us avoid around 6% of new cases of cancer and deaths related to its consumption” insist the authors of the study. It is on breast cancer and colorectal cancer that this measure would have the greatest impact : more than 1000 lives saved from breast cancer, and 1700 lives from colorectal cancer.
1 in 25 cases of cancer linked to alcohol consumption
In 2020, 741,300 cases of cancer would have been declared because of alcohol, whatever the mode of consumption (including moderate). At least that’s what the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimated in a study published in The Lancet magazine. The latter was carried out on screenings for the year 2020 and includes a margin of error, in particular due to the health crisis which has postponed the detection and treatment of many cancers all over the world.
Some cancers are more at risk than others. The study lists seven of them: there are cancers of the oral cavity, cancer of the liver and cancer of the breast for women, cancer of the esophagus, that of the larynx, pharynx or even that of the colon. rectum.
20,000 cancers per year in France
Obviously, the amount of alcohol consumed plays an important role in the risk of developing these pathologies. The vast majority of cancers (86%) attributed to it come from excessive consumption. But drinking alcohol in reasonable quantities (i.e. a maximum of 2 glasses per day) would already constitute a risk factor. This would represent about 100,000 cancer cases out of this estimated total of 740,000 cases in one year, notes the IARC.
The IARC also draws up a map of the countries most affected by this scourge, with Mongolia in first place, where 10% of cancers are due to alcohol. In France, this would represent approximately 20,000 people per year, or 5% of cases. The last place is attributed to a Muslim country, where drinking alcohol is prohibited, it is Kuwait, which recorded in 2020 only 5 cases of cancers which could be linked to it.
The other measures recommended by the WHO to reduce the number of cancers caused by alcohol:
- reduce liquor bottle retail locations and times
- ban or drastically reduce alcohol advertising.
Sources:
- Modeling the impact of increased alcohol taxation on alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European RegionThe Lancet, September 2021
- Global burden of cancer in 2020 attributable to alcohol consumption: a population-based studyThe Lancet, July 2021
Read also:
- Alcohol directly responsible for 7 forms of cancer
- Alcohol, risk factor for breast cancer
