Alaska bars and liquor stores will be required to post signs warning of alcohol’s link to cancer, under a bill that became law on April 25.
The new sign mandate, to go into effect on Aug. 1, makes Alaska the first U.S. state to require such health warnings specifically related to colon and breast cancers.
The warnings about the alcohol-cancer relationship will be added to already mandated warnings about the dangers that pregnant women’s consumption can lead to birth defects.
The requirement is part of a measure, Senate Bill 15, that allows employees under 21 to serve alcohol at restaurants and breweries.
Lawmakers last year passed a similar bill, with the same combined provisions, but House members gave their final approval just minutes after the midnight adjournment deadline. It was one of five bills that Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed because of passage after that deadline.
Anchorage Rep. Andrew Gray was the leading proponent of the new signs.
The combined bill on alcohol servers and cancer warnings was approved by unanimous vote in the Senate on April 4. It had passed the House two days earlier on a 32-8 vote.
Dunleavy allowed the measure to become law without his signature.
Alcohol consumption has been shown to increase risks of certain types of cancer, including breast and colon cancer. Gray said the relationship has gained more attention in recent years, and he gave credit to former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. In January, Murthy issued an advisory report describing how alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, increases risks of at least seven types of cancer.
“Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity,” said the report.
Murthy recommended that the label on packaging for alcoholic drinks be updated to include the cancer-risk link.
Currently, South Korea is the only nation that requires warning labels about alcohol consumption increasing cancer risks. A similar warning is set to go into effect in Ireland next year.
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