With alcohol-related deaths at an all-time high in Canada, and mounting pressure to put cancer warnings on alcohol containers, Canadians have questions about the specifics after a drastic shift in messaging.
In one fell swoop, an expert group has shifted the safe drinking range from 10 to 15 drinks per week, depending if you are a man or a woman, to fewer than two. Even small amounts of alcohol are now linked to up to nine kinds of cancer, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
That has some Canadians pointing to aged lifelong drinkers in their family with consternation.
Dozens of people wrote to CBC News asking just how many and which drinks are a danger and why cancer does not affect all big drinkers.
Dr. Tim Naimi, a physician and the director of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, understands the confusion.
“We understand that there’s going to be anxiety,” he said. “A lot of people really, really enjoy drinking alcohol.”
A shopping cart full of bottles at a B.C. liquor store in Vancouver in August 2022. Dozens of people have written to CBC News with questions about the new alcohol consumption guidelines. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Naimi says alcohol needs clearer labels so drinkers know what they are ingesting and understand the risks.
The Boston native said he is surprised that Canadian alcohol does not even report sugar levels, much less cancer risks, despite the fact that booze is “an intoxicating, addictive, carcinogenic thing that kills lots of people.”
He believes it’s related to the focus on alcohol revenue over safety.
“A can of peas in a supermarket has information about how much magnesium or calcium is in the peas, and those aren’t even toxic carcinogenic products,” said Naimi.
He said ingesting two standard servings with 14 grams of ethanol — the chemical name for alcohol — per week is OK, but after that health risks increase.
How does alcohol affect the human body?
The journey of alcohol through the human system is explained in an alert issued by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). When a human drinks alcohol, the body works to process and eliminate it.
Enzymes help break apart the ethanol molecule into other compounds that the body can process, but some intermediate steps can damage the body.
Alcohol is metabolized by the brain, the stomach and the pancreas — but mostly by the liver. This organ converts alcohol into a short-lived but toxic compound — acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen — which is then broken down into a less toxic compound. But the speed at which that happens depends on many factors, including metabolism rates.
The body can only metabolize a certain amount of alcohol every hour, and that amount varies depending on factors that include the liver size, body mass and enzymes in the human body. Some people can break down alcohol faster than others.
The new guidelines
Experts who launched updated guidance on alcohol and health say people deserve to know the current facts about drinking alcohol — given new research that’s emerged linking booze to cancer and heart issues since 2011.
Peter Butt, associate professor at the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, and co-chair of Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, says Canada is actually following the lead of other countries such as Australia, France and the U.K. and U.S., which have already updated their guidelines. He says alcohol has gotten a “free ride” when it comes to safety labelling for too long.
Garbage and recyclables are pictured near Sunset Beach in Vancouver on June 27, 2022. Peter Butt, co-chair of Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, says alcohol has gotten a ;free ride’ when it comes to safety labelling for too long in Canada. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
“We certainly have a problem, and it’s hiding in plain sight. So this is why we want to shine light on it, provide information to Canadians so that they can make better informed decisions. They have a right to know,” said Butt.
And the cancer risk related to alcohol can be higher depending on genetic factors.
“We’re presenting this information based upon population health data, but if a person has a family history of breast cancer or indeed a personal history of breast or [gastrointestinal] cancer, they would be well advised to think very, very carefully about whether or not they want to engage with alcohol at all,” Butt said.
Cancer risks understated for years
Elizabeth Holmes, senior manager of health policy at the Canadian Cancer Society, says drinking any kinds of alcohol hikes the risk for cancers, including those of the head, neck, breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, stomach and pancreas.
“Drinking any type or amount of alcohol — so that’s beer, wine and spirits — increases your risk for at least nine different types of cancer,” said Holmes.
“It is the ethanol that is increasing your cancer risk.”
The International Agency for Research on Cancer notes that some heavy drinkers never develop cancer while some moderate drinkers do, in part because the very genes that protect some people against alcoholism are now thought to make some humans more vulnerable to alcohol’s carcinogenic effects.
Canada’s alcohol-related deaths hit highs not seen in 20 years and kept rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada, with a record 3,875 in 2021.
New U.S. research shows excessive alcohol use caused about 140,000 deaths per year in the United States between 2015 and 2019. About 60 per cent of those deaths were caused by chronic conditions attributed to alcohol, such as liver disease, cancer and heart disease, according to the New York Times.
The number of Canadian alcohol-related deaths is less than tobacco-related deaths — estimated at 48,000 per year, according to the Canada Gazette.
“The relative risk or the likelihood of tobacco increasing cancer risk, it’s higher. Tobacco is linked with more cancer types, 16 compared to nine,” said Holmes.
Cost of alcohol abuse cost Canada $16B in 2017
But the overall cost of alcohol abuse to Canadian society is the highest of any substance abuse. It cost Canada $4 billion in 2017 — or about $1,258 per person, according to Butt, citing the Canadian Substance Abuse Cost and Harms Report.
“When you look at the costs and harms of each particular substance in each jurisdiction. And what we find is that across the board, nationally and in every province except in the Maritimes, alcohol is number one,” he said.
Of all the legally available and oft used psychoactive substances, alcohol and tobacco accounted for 63 per cent of the costs. Alcohol use alone cost Canada the most at $16.6 billion (36.2 per cent), about $12.3 billion (26.7 per cent) with other substances combined making up the remainder.
Butt says a lot of alcohol-related costs — such as trauma and heart disease — are not even part of the current tabulation.
“People are reflecting very deeply about this,” said Butt.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
