Recently the world health organization has released a new study the links alcohol with cancer. This isn’t a new finding but re-enforces that there may be risks around drinking that many of us don’t know about. Alcohol is has been identified as a carcinogen which can mutate DNA and lead to different forms of cancer. In recent years the link between cancer and humans is raising some alarm bells and begging the question – should we be more informed about its risks? Alcohol is a very common part of socializing in Canada in particular in Newfoundland and Labrador.

We celebrate our favourite occasions with a glass of champagne, have a beer watching the game, or open a bottle of wine and a dinner party. In our most recent episode we focussed on how much of a risk does it actually pose to us and... if alcohol is cancer-causing how come only 1/3 of us know are aware of this fact?

I wanted to find out more – so to get more information I reached out to Elizabeth Holmes who is the Senior Manager of Health Policy at the Canadian Cancer Society and Nancy McKay who is the chair of the board for the Canadian Cancer Society in New Brunswick and a long time participant in their event called “Dry February” which encourages abstaining from alcohol for the month in order to raise awareness and funding for research.