Canada's alcohol industry is rejecting a call for mandatory warning labels on alcoholic beverage containers, as suggested in a new guide that also greatly limits the recommended amount Canadians should drink.
CJ Hélie, president of Beer Canada, said the industry is voluntarily informing people to drink responsibly, so there is no need for labels.
"A number of Canadian brewers, including several of our members, have voluntary health warning labels or pictographs on packaging that address warnings against drinking during pregnancy and drunk driving," Hélie said.
However, a report on new drinking guidance released Tuesday by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction says the warning labels could inform consumers about serious health risks, including cancer, the number of standard drinks in a container and the benefits of limiting consumption to two. drinks a week.
"Consuming more than two standard drinks per drinking occasion is associated with an increased risk of harm to self and others, including injury and violence," the report says.
The guidance is based on the findings of a panel of 23 experts who reviewed nearly 6,000 peer-reviewed studies as part of a two-year process that also considered comments from 4845 people during an online public consultation process in the spring of 2021.
The most recent data available show that alcohol causes nearly 7000 cancer deaths each year in Canada, with the majority of cases being breast or colon cancer, followed by cancers of the rectum, mouth and throat, liver, esophagus and larynx. Liver disease and most types of cardiovascular disease are also related to alcohol consumption.
The guidance updates Canada's Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines established in 2011, when two drinks a day was considered low-risk and it was believed that women could safely consume up to 10 drinks a week and men could have 15 drinks.
Now, the focus is on a continuum of risk associated with weekly alcohol consumption. The CCSA says the risk of harm is low for those who drink two standard drinks or less per week, moderate for those who consume between three and six standard drinks, and higher for people who have every additional drink beyond that.
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