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Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

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Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#61

Post by ogre_codes »

csours wrote: post #43
idoh wrote: post #12

This is a frustrating article, because it does not say how dangerous alcohol is. Maybe alcohol raises the risk of certain types of cancers, but only by a very tiny amount. Relative to other risks, even other risks from alcohol, do we really need to care about that?

> "A public health analysis published last year estimated that the cancer risk posed by drinking one bottle of wine a week was comparable to smoking five cigarettes for men and 10 for women in the same time span." I'd like to have better statistics than this, but they did try to communicate something about the risk. The problem with comparing the cancer risk to cigarettes is that tobacco does a lot of other bad stuff…

Alcohol does a lot of bad stuff besides cause cancer as well. Primarily damage to the liver, but other effects as well.

Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#62

Post by Ovah »

idoh wrote: post #12

This is a frustrating article, because it does not say how dangerous alcohol is. Maybe alcohol raises the risk of certain types of cancers, but only by a very tiny amount. Relative to other risks, even other risks from alcohol, do we really need to care about that?

Here are some actual numbers for risk increase. Heavy drinkers have a 5-fold increased risk of getting head and neck cancer, esofageal cancer, and 2-fold increase for liver cancer. The source also reviews colorectal, breast and head+neck cancer. My opinion as a medical professional is that these are significant, and not "very tiny amounts", of increased risk.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/a...

Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#63

Post by echelon »

Rule of thumb: if your food, beverage, dye, or aromatic scent readily undergoes chemical reactions, it might not be safe.

Alcohol is quite chemically reactive:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol#Reactions

Burnt or charred food has loads of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) that have lots of potential for chemistry (delocalized electrons = very reactive). They pose extreme cancer risk, and might be one of the most important things you frequently encounter that you can remove from your diet! Don't eat burnt food.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycyclic_aromatic_hydrocarbo...

If reactive substances reach your DNA, they could cause mutation. DNA mutation brings you closer to developing cancer. Even if these substances don't reach your DNA, they could cause other deleterious effects to your cellular biochemistry that might have downstream impact.

Proteins, fats, and carbs are much less dangerous than some of the other things we ingest, inhale, and apply.

It helps to know some basic chemistry and biochemistry. It's all about the chemistry. Cancer is a disease state caused by biochemical phenomena.

(Fun fact: Oxygen is one of the most reactive things you put in your body. But there isn't any escaping that. The reaction is how we sustain life.)

Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#64

Post by CadellFastro »

rootusrootus wrote: post #45
GavinMcG wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comment said that it ruins lives just as effectively, not that it's as addictive. Two things don't need to be equally strong or powerful to each get the job done.

That's an interesting distinction. Many people drink in moderation quite successfully without ever being addicted and without ruining their life. How many people successfully maintain a moderate heroin habit?

The distinction, at least to me, comes from the fact that alcohol is more prevalent, and even though the rate of addiction may be lower, still harms more lives given the much larger population of people who consume alcohol.

Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#65

Post by aphextron »

tehjoker wrote: post #41
csours wrote: post #17

I bought a large mixing bowl, and it had a California Cancer label on the bottom. It's a regular metal bowl. If you put cancer labels on everything, people will quickly ignore them. Maybe it would be better if there was a scale on it, like this is a 1 banana equivalent risk or something, but then how do you determine my exposure to the cancer in the metal bowl.

I think that was the idea. If the warnings were effective, then business processes are affected. If consumers can be trained to ignore them, then the state looks like it's doing something for people without changing anything materially.

> then the state looks like it's doing something for people without changing anything materially.

You've just described California politics perfectly.

Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#66

Post by mirekrusin »

35fbe7d3d5b9 wrote: post #44
csours wrote: post #17

I bought a large mixing bowl, and it had a California Cancer label on the bottom. It's a regular metal bowl. If you put cancer labels on everything, people will quickly ignore them. Maybe it would be better if there was a scale on it, like this is a 1 banana equivalent risk or something, but then how do you determine my exposure to the cancer in the metal bowl.

I was curious, so I googled: https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/general-info/proposition... > By law, a warning must be given for listed chemicals unless exposure is low enough to pose no significant risk of cancer > the "no significant risk level” is defined as the level of exposure that would result in not more than one excess case of cancer in 100,000 individuals exposed to the chemical over a 70-year lifetime Th…

Using smartphone must be falling into this category as well, no? It would be fun to see those pretty iPhone boxes with cigarette like label on it.

Also how do they test this because trial lasting 70 years with 2x 100,000 people would not be enough to conclude in most cases.

Re: Less than half of Americans know that alcohol is a carcinogen

#69

Post by beckler »

Story time!

My mom worked at a gas station convenience story in an rough part of Atlanta (Bankhead) in the late 1970s/early 80s. Alcohol sales in Georgia used to be prohibited on Sundays, so the most addicted alcoholics would come into her store and buy pretty much anything that had any type of alcohol in it. She said every Sunday that they would almost always sell out of mouthwash, cough syrup, rubbing alcohol, vanilla extract, nail polish remover, and even windshield wiper fluid.

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