'It's about time': Experts in Canada support call for warnings about cancer risk from alcohol

While Canada hasn't mandated cancer warnings for alcoholic beverages, a few experts are supporting a new push in the U.S. to have the labels on the products.

While Canada hasn't mandated cancer warnings for alcoholic beverages, a few experts are supporting a new push in the U.S. to have the labels on the products.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is calling for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages after issuing a new advisory Friday about the increased risk of developing cancer.

"Consumers have a right to know the inherent health risks of products they're consuming, especially products that are often sold by governments," Erin Hobin, a scientist at Public Health Ontario who has studied the effectiveness of alcohol warning labels, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. "I think there is an opportunity for Canada to strengthen their labelling regulations for alcohol purely from a consumer's right to know perspective."

The need for warnings is pressing given that the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer categorized alcoholic beverages as a group 1 carcinogen – the highest risk level, she said. What's more, the evidence on the link between alcohol and cancer has grown, Hobin added.

"It's confirmed that alcohol is causally related to at least seven types of cancer, including mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, colon, breast and liver," she said.

Similarly, Dr. Peter Butt welcomes the push for cancer warning labels on alcohol. Butt is clinical associate professor at the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

"I think it's about time that this position has been taken at a national level," said Butt, whose clinical and research work focuses on substance use disorders, in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. "We've certainly made that a recommendation with regards to our Canadian guidance on alcohol and health. ... People have a right to know and less (alcohol) is better."