"Simple measure"

WHO Europe advises cancer warnings on alcohol

According to the WHO, no other region in the world consumes as much alcohol as Europe.(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is now recommending that alcoholic beverages carry a warning about the risk of cancer from alcohol. The aim is to raise awareness of the fact that alcohol consumption can lead to cancer by prominently placing warnings on such drinks.

This simple and cost-effective measure could enable consumers to make informed decisions about their health, wrote the Copenhagen-based regional organization. This could ultimately also reduce the health damage caused by alcohol, the WHO Regional Office for Europe announced at the presentation of a new report on the subject.

Europeans drink the most alcohol
According to the WHO, no other region in the world consumes as much alcohol as the European Region. According to the WHO's latest global status report on alcohol, Europeans over the age of 15 consumed 9.2 liters of pure alcohol per capita in 2019 - significantly more than the global average (5.5 liters). Seven of the ten countries in the world with the highest consumption are in the EU, including Germany with a figure of 12.2 liters of pure alcohol.

800,000 deaths per year in Europe
The WHO warns that this is associated with considerable health risks. Every year, 800,000 people in the WHO region of Europe die from alcohol-related causes - that's almost 2,200 people a day. Although cancer is the most common cause of death, public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer remains alarmingly low, according to WHO Europe.