Sep 9, 2017
The alcohol industry uses distortion, denial and distraction to mislead people about the risks of developing cancer from drinking alcoholic beverages, often employing similar tactics used by the tobacco industry to mislead smokers, according to a new study…”The weight of scientific evidence is clear – drinking alcohol increases the risk of some of the most common forms of cancer,” said Mark Petticrew, a professor of public Health at the LSHTM who co-led the study.
“It has been argued that greater public awareness, particularly of the risk of breast cancer, poses a significant threat to the alcohol industry. Our analysis suggests that the major global alcohol producers may attempt to mitigate this by disseminating misleading information.”
The study identified three main industry strategies: Denying any link with cancer, or selective omission of the relationship; distortion by mentioning some risk of cancer, but misrepresenting or obfuscating its size; and distraction by seeking to draw focus away from the risks of alcohol and towards other cancer risks.