Alcohol, Cancer Linked by Governor’s Science Panel

Alcoholic beverages can cause cancer in chronic abusers, Gov. George Deukmejian’s scientific advisory panel concluded Friday, a move that could lead to health warnings for consumers.

The panel members, appointed by the governor to help implement Proposition 65, agreed unanimously to place alcoholic beverages on the list of chemicals known by the state to cause cancer, thereby subjecting beer, wine and liquor to the requirements of the anti-toxics initiative.

“A strong connection between alcoholic beverages and cancer has been shown in human studies involving high levels of alcoholic beverage consumption,” chairman Wendell Kilgore said in summarizing the panel’s action. “We recommend alcoholic beverages be listed as carcinogenic.”

Representatives of the beer, wine and liquor industries who had strongly resisted the panel’s action protested that scientific studies have not conclusively proved that alcoholic beverages are carcinogenic.

“The science does not show that it causes cancer,” said Michele Corash, an attorney representing the alcoholic beverage industry. “We’re disappointed and surprised by the panel’s action.”

Before deciding what kind of warnings will be required for alcoholic beverages, Health and Welfare Undersecretary Thomas E. Warriner said the state will conduct its own analysis to determine the level of consumption that is likely to cause cancer. But he emphasized that such cancer warnings are likely to apply only to heavy drinkers.

“I think for the average drinker, what happened today is not something they should be particularly concerned about,” Warriner said. “You’re talking about alcohol abusers. You’re not talking about the ordinary person who drinks wine, beer or has a highball at dinner.”

The action by the governor’s panel is apparently the first time a government agency in the United States has identified alcoholic beverages as carcinogenic. Last year, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research in Cancer announced that it had reached the same conclusion, but it has yet to release its findings in detail.

Under Proposition 65, businesses must warn the public of exposure to “significant” amounts of a chemical that is known to cause cancer or birth defects.

Birth Defects Warning

The panel has already identified alcoholic beverages as substances that can cause birth defects--even when consumed in moderate amounts. Warnings for pregnant women will be required in stores, bars and restaurants beginning Oct. 1.

The question of whether alcoholic beverages also cause cancer posed a tougher dilemma for the panel because of conflicting evidence from numerous scientific studies.

More than a dozen studies of laboratory animals have found no evidence that ingestion of large amounts of alcohol caused cancer.

However, evidence gathered from more than 40 epidemiological studies of drinking in humans found a strong correlation between alcoholic beverages and cancer.

Link Is ‘Clear’

“The results of the epidemiological studies clearly demonstrate statistically positive associations between alcoholic beverage consumption and cancer at the following sites: oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, liver, breast and rectum,” concluded a report by the Department of Health Services.

The report also noted that there is equivocal evidence associating alcohol consumption with cancers of the pancreas, stomach, urinary tract and colon.

“Cancer levels are 1.5 to 5 times greater than would be expected in the absence of alcohol consumption. This represents a moderate to high increase,” said the report, which recommended that the panel add alcoholic beverages to the state’s list of carcinogens.

The beer, wine and liquor industry, in an attempt to persuade the panel not to declare that alcoholic beverages can cause cancer, flew in three prominent scientists to argue that the scientific evidence was not conclusive.

Not ‘Clearly Shown’

“We do not believe that alcohol can be clearly shown to cause cancer in humans,” testified Emanuel Rubin, chairman of the pathology department at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

In the past, representatives of industry groups have argued before the panel that studies on animals are not sufficient to prove a substance is carcinogenic and that proof from human studies is needed.

But at Friday’s meeting, the alcoholic beverage industry took the opposite tack, contending that the epidemiological studies of human drinkers are not sufficient proof until they are corroborated by research on animals.

Specifically, Rubin and his colleagues argued that the epidemiological studies do not separate other factors that could be responsible for the increased cancer rates, such as poor oral hygiene, low socioeconomic status or previous exposure to hepatitis.

Further Research Urged

Such statistical studies of cancer rates, they said, should be taken as a sign that further research should be conducted. Under questioning from scientists on the panel, however, Rubin conceded that alcoholic beverages were “a possible cause of cancer.”

Members of Deukmejian’s panel agreed that no single study of human alcohol consumption was sufficient to declare that alcoholic beverages cause cancer. But viewed as a whole, the scientists argued, the evidence from the dozens of studies shows a clear correlation between heavy drinking and cancer.

“There is no such thing as a perfect epidemiological study,” said panel member Alice Whittemore. “You have to look at the overall pattern.”

Other Chemicals Cited

In addition to alcoholic beverages, the panel voted to place six other chemicals on the list of substances known to cause cancer, including chlordane, a pesticide used to eradicate termites that was recently banned by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Deukmejian is expected to formally place all seven substances on the state list on July 1, bringing to 231 the number of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.

Corash, the alcoholic beverage manufacturers’ attorney, said the industry will go along with whatever requirements are ultimately imposed by the state.

“The alcoholic beverage industry will comply with Proposition 65,” she said. “If warnings are required, we will provide warnings.”