Alcohol and cancer
Cancer is now the leading cause of death in Ireland. It is responsible for almost 1/3 of all deaths each year. We have known for almost 40 years that alcohol causes cancer. It was first classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1988. This means that there is conclusive evidence that alcohol causes cancer and places it in the same category as tobacco, asbestos and radiation.  

Is there a safe amount of alcohol to drink when it comes to cancer risk?
In 2023, the WHO declared that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption4. Drinking any beverage containing alcohol regardless of its type, price or quality increases your risk of developing cancer. Cancer risk begins with the first drop of alcohol that you drink and increases the more you drink. In the European Union (EU) in 2017 23,000 (almost 1 in 7) of all alcohol-attributable cancers were caused by ‘light’ and ‘moderate’ drinking (defined as less than 2 standard drinks per day). Almost half of these (~11,000) were female breast cancers. More than a third of the cancer cases resulting from light to moderate drinking were associated with a light drinking level of less than 1 standard drink per day...