Major alcoholic beverage manufacturers witnessed a significant decline in their share prices following a stark announcement from the US surgeon-general regarding cancer warnings on alcohol products.
The dramatic market response came after Vivek Murthy, the nation’s leading government medical authority, released a public health advisory positioning alcohol consumption as the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, trailing only tobacco and obesity.
Share prices across the alcohol sector experienced notable turbulence, with several brewery and distillery owners seeing declines exceeding 2 per cent. Rémy Cointreau emerged as the most severely impacted, with shares plummeting 5 per cent, while Boston Beer’s New York-listed shares closed nearly 4 per cent lower.
The surgeon-general’s recommendations mirror historical public health campaigns targeting the tobacco industry, which resulted in substantial decreases in smoking rates. The advisory emphasised that cancer risks begin to escalate with as little as one drink per day for certain cancers, including breast, mouth, and throat cancers.
The World Health Organisation’s 2022 guidance reinforced these concerns, stating no safe level of alcohol consumption exists without health implications. Their research indicated that half of all alcohol-attributed cancers stem from light or moderate drinking, defined as consuming less than one and a half litres of wine, three and a half litres of beer, or 450ml of spirits weekly.
Most concerning to health officials is the revelation that less than half of Americans recognise the connection between alcohol consumption and cancer risk. This awareness gap stands in stark contrast to public understanding of cancer risks from radiation, tobacco, and asbestos exposure, prompting calls for more prominent warning labels similar to those already implemented in Ireland and South Korea.
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