Researchers at AIIMS have called for strong, evidence-based warning labels on alcohol products to prevent avoidable cancers, building on India’s success with tobacco warnings.In an opinion piece titled “Expanding behavioural interventions through cancer warning labels in India: from cigarette packs to alcohol bottles” published in Frontiers in Public Health on July 24, the doctors have highlighted that alcohol, like tobacco, is a proven carcinogen, yet awareness remains low.
The opinion piece by oncologists Dr Abhishek Shankar, Dr Vaibhav Sahni and Dr Deepak Saini from the Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS, Delhi stated that adolescence forms a crucial period for the initiation and intensification of substance use behaviour, including alcohol.
Behavioural interventions instituted by means of alcohol warning labels may prove to be effective in affecting positive changes in the consumption habits of individuals belonging to this age group, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where it is all the more important for certain sections of society to be educated and sensitised towards the consequences of substance use, the researchers said.
They stated that cancer cases in India have seen a steep rise, with data from the 2012 to 2022 period suggesting a 36 per cent increase in incidence (1.01 million-’1.38 million).
GLOBOCAN 2022 data saw about 1.41 million new cancer cases in India with a five-year prevalence at around 3.25 million and a total cancer mortality at 916,827.