AIIMS researchers call for warning labels on alcohol

Researchers at AIIMS have called for strong, evidence-based warning labels on alcohol products to prevent avoidable cancers, building on India’s success with tobacco warnings.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

In an opinion piece titled “Expanding behavioural interventions through cancer warning labels in India: from cigarette packs to alcohol bottles” published in Frontiers in Public Health July 24, the doctors have highlighted that alcohol, like tobacco, is a proven carcinogen, yet awareness remains low.

The opinion piece by oncologists Dr Abhishek Shankar, Dr Vaibhav Sahni and Dr Deepak Saini from the Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS, Delhi stated that adolescence forms a crucial period for the initiation and intensification of substance use behaviour, including alcohol.

Behavioural interventions instituted by means of alcohol warning labels may prove to be effective in affecting positive changes in the consumption habits of individuals belonging to this age group, particularly in Lowand Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where it is all the more important for certain sections of society to be educated and sensitised towards the consequences of substance use, the researchers said.