Raising taxes on alcohol, related to at least seven types of cancer, would prevent the death of some 5,000 people in Europe alone. According to a study published in the scientific journal The Lancet, by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Is raising taxes on alcoholic beverages the best decision?
According to this WHO cancer modeling, published in The Lancet, it is estimated that “10,700 new cases of cancer and 4,850 deaths from alcohol-related cancer could be prevented each year in the WHO European region if they double the current taxes on alcoholic beverages ”.
WHO and alcohol consumption
According to the WHO study published in The Lancet, “increasing the taxes on alcoholic beverages is one of the best measures.” This is to reduce the number of deaths from cancer, with “a high potential impact” and “positive results in all countries.”
For the WHO, the current levels of taxation on alcohol are “weak”
This applies to several European countries, even within the European Union.
According to the institution, of the 4.8 million new cases of cancer each year in Europe, 1.4 million. As well as 650 thousand deaths, they are “linked” to alcohol consumption. Alcohol is linked to seven different types of cancer: mouth, pharynx, esophagus, colorectal, liver, larynx, and breast.
Alcohol and cancer
Alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen
It is causally related to seven different types of cancers. About 4.2% of the 4.8 million cancer cases in the WHO European Region in 2020 were caused by alcohol. Increasing excise duties is one of the “best buys” to profitably reduce alcohol-related drinking and health burden.
Previous model studies showed that a 100% increase in alcohol taxes in four WHO European countries with different levels of consumption and alcohol policies could prevent up to 7% of new alcohol-attributable cancers in these countries .
Study details
For the study, the researchers analyzed three data sets:
- Estimates of world alcohol consumption
- Cancer risks from alcohol
- Estimates of the global incidence of alcohol-related cancers.
The researchers found that alcohol use was linked to at least 741,300 new cases of seven different types of cancer worldwide, representing 4% of all cases of those cancers.
Cancers examined included:
- Esophagus cancer
- Mouth cancer
- Laryngeal cancer
- Colon cancer
- Rectal cancer
- Liver cancer
- Breast cancer
Men accounted for about 75% of alcohol-related cancer cases, or 568,700 cases in total, while women accounted for the remaining 172,600 cases. According to the study, cancers of the esophagus (189,700 cases), liver (154,700 cases) and breast (98,300 cases) “contributed the majority of cases.”
The researchers also found that an individual’s risk of cancer increased with the amount of alcohol consumed. However, even drinking two or fewer alcoholic beverages a day, considered moderate consumption, according to the study, accounted for about 14% of alcohol-related cancers.
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