Advisory warns alcohol is third leading preventable cause of cancer in US and seeks to raise consumer awareness

Maya Yang Fri 3 Jan 2025 12.00

Alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the US after tobacco and obesity and should carry a label warning consumers about their cancer risks, according to a new advisory by the US surgeon general.

Released on Friday, the advisory revealed that alcohol use contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year. It also found that alcohol-related cancer deaths shorten the lives of those who die by an average of 15 years.

The US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, also called for the guidelines on alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed so consumers can weigh the cancer risk when deciding whether or how much to drink. Alcohol in the US already has warnings on birth defects and impairments when operating machinery.

“Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, increasing risk for at least seven types of cancer,” Murthy’s office said in a statement with the new report.

Any such change to warning labels has to be made by the US Congress.

According to the advisory, the largest burden of alcohol-related cancer in the US is for breast cancer in women, with an estimated 44,180 cases in 2019, marking 16.4% of the approximately 270,000 total breast cancer cases for women.

Among women, breast cancer makes up approximately 60% of alcohol-related cancer deaths. Meanwhile, liver cancer, at approximately 33%, and colorectal cancer, at approximately 21%, make up the majority of alcohol-related cancer deaths in men.

Overall, consuming alcohol increases the risk of developing at least seven types of cancer. In addition to colorectal and breast cancers, alcohol consumption increases the risk of mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box and liver cancers.

The advisory also found that about 83% of the estimated 20,000 alcohol-related cancer deaths in the US annually occur among people who drink at levels above the federally recommended limits of two drinks daily for men and one drink daily for women. It also stated that the remaining 17% of the estimated 20,000 annual alcohol-related cancer deaths occur at levels within the recommended limits.

The advisory listed four ways that alcohol can cause cancer including alcohol’s breakdown into acetaldehyde in the body, which damages DNA in various ways, thereby increasing the risk of cancer. Alcohol can also induce oxidative stress, in turn increasing cancer risk by damaging DNA, proteins and cells, and increasing inflammation. The third way is alcohol’s ability to alter levels of multiple hormones including estrogen, which can increase breast cancer risk. Alcohol consumption can also lead to greater absorption of carcinogens.

Despite the clear links between alcohol consumption and cancer risk, less than half of Americans are actually aware of the risk. According to a 2019 survey cited in the advisory, 45% of Americans recognized alcohol use as a risk factor for cancer compared with 91% of Americans who recognized the risk of radiation exposure, 89% for tobacco use, 81% for asbestos exposure and 53% for obesity.

Friday’s advisory is not the first report to highlight the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.

In August, a similar report by the Autonomous University of Madrid found that harms related to drinking may be greater for people in worse health. According to researchers, high-risk drinking posed a higher risk of dying from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Moreover, a report by the American Association of Cancer Research published in September found that heavy alcohol consumption increased the risk of six types of malignancies. Those include esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, as well as certain types of head, neck, breast, colorectal, liver and stomach cancers, the New York Times reported, citing the report.

source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/03/alcohol-cancer-link-preventable-cause

Islamic view on Alcohol:

Is drinking alcohol a major sin?

Drinking alcohol is a major sin, for wine is the mother of all evils. It clouds the mind, wastes money, causes headaches, tastes foul, and is an abomination of the Shaytan’s [Satan’s] handiwork. 

It creates enmity and hatred between people, prevents them from remembering Allah and praying, calls them to zina [unlawful sexual relationships], and may even call them to commit incest with their daughters, sisters or other female relatives. It takes away pride and protective jealousy (ghirah), and generates shame, regret and disgrace, and puts the drinker in the same category as the most imperfect type of people, namely those who are insane. It leads to the disclosure of secrets and exposure of faults. It encourages people to commit sins and evil actions. It makes people transgress sacred limits and the one who is addicted to it is like an idol-worshipper. 

How many wars has it started, how many rich men has it made poor, how many noble people has it brought low, how many blessings has it destroyed, how many disasters has it caused? 

How often has it created division between man and wife?  

How much regret has it generated and how many tears has it caused to flow? 

How often has it closed the doors of goodness to the drinker and opened the doors of evil to him? 

How often has it brought about calamity and hastened death? 

How much trouble has it brought to the one who drinks it? 

It is the source of sin, the key to evil; it takes away blessings and brings calamity. 

Even if it did not have all these evil consequences, the fact that one cannot have both the wine of this world and the wine of Paradise is a sufficient deterrent. 

And the evil consequences of alcohol are many times more than we have mentioned. (From the words of Ibn al-Qayyim in Hadi al-Arwah) 

What Quran says about prohibition of alcohol

Allah has warned us against it in His Book and on the lips of His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).  

• Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al-Ansab (stone altars for sacrifices to idols, jinn, etc), and Al-Azlam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaytan’s (Satan’s) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful.” [Al-Maidah 5:90]

What hadith says about prohibition of alcohol?

• Allah has cursed the drinker of alcohol. In Sunan Abi Dawud (3189) it is narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah has cursed alcohol, the one who drinks it, the one who pours it, the one who sells it, the one who buys it , the one squeezes (the grapes, etc), the one for whom it is squeezed, the one who carries it and the one to whom it is carried.” (Classed as sahih by al-Albani as stated in Sahih Abi Dawud, 2/700.) 
• The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) likened the one who is addicted to alcohol to one who worships idols. 
• It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The one who is addicted to alcohol is like one who worships an idol.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah, 3375; classed as hasan by al-Albani in Sahih Ibn Majah, 2720) 
• The one who is addicted to alcohol will be denied admission to Paradise. It was narrated from Abu’l-Darda that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “No one who is addicted to alcohol will enter Paradise.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah, 3376; classed as sahih by al-Albani as stated in Sahih Ibn Majah, 2721) 
• It was narrated that ‘Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Avoid alcohol for it is the mother of all evils. There was a man among the people who came before you who was a devoted worshipper. A seductive woman fell in love with him, and she sent her slave-woman to him to call him to bear witness. He went with the slave-woman, and every time they passed through a door, she locked it behind them, until he reached a beautiful woman with whom was a child and a vessel of wine. She said, ‘I did not call you to bear witness, rather I called you either to have intercourse with me, or to drink a cup of this wine, or to kill this child.’ He said, ‘Pour me some of this wine.’ So she poured him a cup, then he said, ‘Give me more,’ and he did not stop until he had intercourse with her and killed the child. So avoid alcohol, for by Allah faith and addiction to wine cannot be combined except soon one of them will be expelled.” (Narrated by al-Nasai, 5666; classed as sahih by al-Albani in Sahih al-Nasai, 5236) 
• His prayers will not be accepted for forty days . It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Amr said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever drinks alcohol and gets drunk, his prayers will not be accepted for forty days, and if he dies he will go to Hell, but if he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he drinks wine again and gets drunk, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days, and if he dies he will go to Hell, but if he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he drinks wine again and gets drunk, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days, and if he dies he will go to Hell, but if he repents, Allah will accept his repentance. If he does that again, Allah will give him to drink of the mud of khabal on the Day of Resurrection.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, what is the mud of khabal?” He said, “The juice of the people of Hell.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah, 3377; classed as sahih by al-Albani in Sahih Ibn Majah, 2722) 

The fact that his prayers are not accepted does not mean that the person’s prayers are invalid, or that he should give up prayer. Rather what it means is that he will not be rewarded for them. So the purpose of his prayer is to fulfil his duty and to avoid the punishment for not praying. 

Abu ‘Abd-Allah ibn Mandah said: 

“The phrase “his prayers will not be accepted” means that he will not be rewarded for his prayers for forty days, as a punishment for drinking alcohol . This is like what they said about the one who speaks when the imam is delivering the khutbah on Friday: he prays Jumu’ah [Friday prayer] but there is no Jumu’ah for him, meaning that he will not be given the reward for praying Jumu`ah, as a punishment for his sin.” (Ta’zim Qadr al-Salah, 2/587, 588) 

Al-Nawawi said: 

“With regard to his prayer not being accepted, what this means is that he will not be rewarded for it, even though it is valid, and he does not have to repeat it. 

With regard to what the questioner was told about her fasting not being accepted, this is based on the view of some of the scholars that the mention of prayer in the hadith quoted above is a warning that no other acts of worship will be accepted either. 

Al-Mubarakfuri said in Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi: 

It is said that prayer was singled out for mention because it is the best physical act of worship, and if it is not accepted, it is more likely that other acts of worship will not be accepted either. 

Al-‘Iraqi and al-Manawi also said something similar. 

Based on this view, fasting is not accepted either, but this does not mean that the person who drank alcohol should not fast, rather he is enjoined to fast, but it will not be accepted from him, as a rebuke. 

Undoubtedly the person who drinks alcohol should still offer the prayers on time, and fast in Ramadan. If he omits some of his prayer or fasting, he will be committing a major sin that is even greater than the sin of drinking alcohol . 

It should be noted that if a Muslim commits sin and is unable to repent because of his weakness of faith, that should not be used to justify his persisting in sin or his addiction, or his neglecting to do acts of worship. Rather he has to do whatever he can of acts of worship and strive to give up the sins that he is committing. 

The Muslim has to fear Allah and beware of the wiles and snares of the Shaytan [Satan]. He should not let his soul become a plaything of the Shaytan. If his Shaytan overpowers him and makes him fall into sin and disobedience towards his Creator, then he must hasten to repent, for “the one who repents is like the one who did not sin.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah, 2450; classed as sahih by al-Busayri as stated in al-Zawaid Hashiyat Sunan Ibn Majah) 

This punishment for the one who drinks alcohol applies to the one who does not repent. As for the one who repents and turns to Allah, Allah will accept his repentance and accept his good deeds. 

We ask Allah to protect us from the tricks of the Shaytan and to help us avoid temptations both obvious and hidden. 

And Allah knows best.

source https://islamqa.info/en/answers/38145/prohibition-of-drinking-alcohol-in-islam