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News :: Corporations |
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Cancer warnings needed on alcohol, Salvation Army says |
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by Parrot Press
(No verified email address) |
18 Sep 2006
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"We actually print the labels here, put them on the alcohol, send it overseas to these countries, yet we don't do that for our own citizens," he said. |
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New research on attitudes to alcohol consumption shows 61 per cent of Australians do not know that drinking alcohol can increase the risk of cancer.
The Salvation Army commissioned the survey and says the results support the case for having warning labels on alcoholic drinks.
Salvos spokesman Major Mike Coleman says there is evidence that having three to four standard drinks a day can increase the risk of cancer by 41 per cent.
"There is convincing evidence that alcohol is a risk factor in breast cancer, liver cancer, larynx cancer and a number of other forms of cancer," he said.
He says governments need to educate the public about the dangers of drinking.
"One of the things that we're calling for is health warnings on alcohol packaging so that - in the same way that we've now become aware of the hazards of tobacco over the past couple of decades - that we may also have that same level of awareness through the community of the hazards of alcohol."
Maj Coleman says the research has been done, but it is not being publicised.
"We're not saying if you drink alcohol, you get cancer, but there is an increased risk," he said.
"To give you an idea of the size of that risk, Cancer Council in New South Wales is saying that if we drink one standard drink a day, it increases the risk of cancer by about 11 per cent."
Salvos spokesman Gerard Byrne says Australia exports alcohol to countries where it is mandatory to have health warnings on alcohol packaging.
"We actually print the labels here, put them on the alcohol, send it overseas to these countries, yet we don't do that for our own citizens," he said.
"It's something that the Australian Government has been slow in legislating for and we think it's about time that we definitely moved towards that."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1742903.htm |
This work is in the public domain |
