Alcohol Fuelled Global Cancer Epidemic – 4 Facts To Turn The Tide

We have not been advancing. We are falling behind and cancer, one of the four major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) burdening the world, is actually turning into an epidemic. These are the numbers from the World Cancer Report:

• The burden of cancer is growing at an alarming pace and emphasizes the need for urgent implementation of efficient prevention strategies to curb the disease.
• In 2012, the worldwide burden of cancer rose to an estimated 14 million new cases per year, a figure expected to rise to 22 million annually within the next two decades.
• Over the same period, cancer deaths are predicted to rise from an estimated 8.2 million annually to 13 million per year.
• Globally, in 2012 the most common cancers diagnosed were those of the lung (1.8 million cases, 13.0% of the total), breast (1.7 million, 11.9%), and large bowel (1.4 million, 9.7%).
• The most common causes of cancer death were cancers of the lung (1.6 million, 19.4% of the total), liver (0.8 million, 9.1%), and stomach (0.7 million, 8.8%).
• More than 60% of the world’s total cases occur in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, and these regions account for about 70% of the world’s cancer deaths
• In 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer was estimated to reach approximately US$1.16trillion.
• spiralling costs of the cancer burden are damaging the economies of even the richest countries and are way beyond the reach of developing countries, as well as placing impossible strains on health-care systems

Some of these forms of cancers mentioned above are alcohol-related, especially stomach (colon and rectum and large bowel) liver and breast cancer.

Role of Big Alcohol in global cancer surge

The role of Big Alcohol must be addressed. Like Big Tobacco, the global alcohol industry is aggressively promoting their product in its thirst for ever more profits.

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO writes in the introduction to the World Cancer Report 2014 that there are increasingly cancers associated with the lifestyles of more affluent countries “with increasing use of tobacco, consumption of alcohol and highly processed foods and lack of physical activity.”

Glamorizing alcohol and its effects, and perpetuating myths about alcohol and the “lifestyle” it is supposed to be associated with are two ways in which Big Alcohol actually drives the cancer epidemic because alcohol is not a magic drink but a toxic, and carcinogenic substance. The aggressive promotion of “industrialised lifestyles” – as the World Cancer Report 2014 calls them – is not the only tool Big Alcohol is using. They also mount aggressive lobby campaigns to stop, obstruct and even dismantle evidence-based public health policies, like higher taxes on alcohol, less availability of alcohol and straitly regulated marketing or advertising bans.

As a matter of fact: about half of all cancers could be avoided if current knowledge was adequately implemented. Take the word of Dr. Stewart, from the IARC press release today:

Despite exciting advances, the report shows that we cannot treat our way out of the cancer problem. More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed in order to complement improved treatments and address the alarming rise in the cancer burden globally.

Adequate legislation can encourage healthier behaviour, as well as having its recognized role in protecting people from workplace hazards and environmental pollutants. In low- and middle- income countries, it is critical that governments commit to enforcing regulatory measures to protect their populations and implement cancer prevention plans.

Governments must show political commitment to progressively step up the implementation of high-quality screening and early detection programmes, which are an investment rather than a cost,” says Dr Bernard W. Stewart, co-editor of World Cancer Report 2014.