People in the North East have been shocked by a new campaign showing how drinking any amount of alcohol can cause seven kinds of cancer.
The new campaign - headed by campaign group Balance and backed by top medic Dr James Crosbie and Gateshead's director of public health Alice Wiseman - aims to get people to think about booze in the same way as cigarettes. And the campaign wants to make sure people realise how having a drink can lead to lethal diseases like bowel and breast cancer.
Young mum Abby Phinn, from South Tyneside, was one to feature in a new campaign video - and told ChronicleLive she had been shocked to discover the connection between alcohol and cancer. She said: "I didn’t know alcohol can cause bowel and breast cancer. I knew it was linked to cancer, just like smoking. That is quite surprising."
Abby said that after being stopped in the street for the Balance campaign, she had reflected on the issue - and been telling her family about the risks. She said: "I was thinking about how one in two of us will have cancer in our lives - after hearing about this, no wonder!
"One in two is really quite high. I definitely wouldn't want to drink as much as I did when I was younger. But of course, that there's a risk even in moderation really makes you think."
Abby was not the only one, Newcastle's Victoria McEwan and Gary Telfer both shared her surprise, and spoke of how frightening this is. Victoria said: "I didn’t know it can cause seven types of cancer. Obviously as a woman you’re not really aware it can cause breast cancer, or I wasn’t anyway. It is quite scary."
Gary added he hadn't been aware of how many cancers alcohol can cause either. He said: "I was aware of liver problems and stuff but it is frightening, especially when you have young children."
Drinking can cause cancer as a chemical created when our bodies break alcohol down - called acetaldehyde - can damage our DNA. Last year, Dr Crosbie told ChronicleLive how almost half of adults in the North East are drinking enough alcohol to raise their cancer risk.
Susan Taylor, head of alcohol policy for campaign groups Fresh and Balance - who produced the video - said: “The North East has seen an increase in alcohol related deaths and alcohol is one of the major risk factors which will contribute to the predicted rise in cancers by 2040.
"A big concern is that it is people aged 45 and over are likely to be drinking the most, at a time when their cancer risk already increases due to age. There’s a worrying information gap when it comes to alcohol and cancer. It is clearly a shock for many people to learn alcohol causes at least 7 types of cancer - and especially breast and bowel cancer."
Dr Crosbie - a GP and consultant gastroenterologist with South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We don’t tend to think about alcohol as a carcinogen compared to tobacco. But evidence is now clear that it causes at least seven different types of cancers.
"It is not just heavy drinkers who are at risk of an alcohol-related cancer but we know that the more you drink, the greater the risk. Alcohol also contains a lot of calories which can increase our weight and our risk of cancer. And unlike age, gender and family history, alcohol is one risk factor that we can change, control and do something positive about."
Alice Wiseman, director of public health in Gateshead said: "Campaigns like this are needed to cut through the spin. For decades the alcohol industry has sold the myth that drinking made us more popular, more attractive and fun, but alcohol companies are hugely reluctant to acknowledge the harms, such as the link with cancer.
“Unlike smoking we often overlook the risks of alcohol. What is particularly interesting is how women are so surprised that alcohol causes breast cancer. We don't see health information on the product or in any national advertising campaigns. Instead we see cheap strong alcohol promoted everywhere which ends up harming lives."
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