Would the threat of cancer stop you from drinking alcohol?

Recently, I posted to our Facebook page,  the results of a report by the Canadian Cancer Society below, that found that “Drinking alcohol raises your risk of developing head and neck, breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, stomach and pancreatic cancers.”

The response was not unexpected.  Some of the feedback I got was “I would have poured myself a drink while I read the report.”  And, “Wouldn’t have affected me and my drinking at all.”  And, still others reacted as if it was a joke.

I think normal alcohol drinkers would be surprised at the response. They simply do not understand the thinking of an alcoholic drinker. 

The report goes on with their findings that: “Drinking alcohol raises your risk of developing head and neck, breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, stomach and pancreatic cancers.

Smoking and drinking together – and the number of drinks you have – also increases your risk of developing cancer. Tobacco and alcohol together are worse for you than either on its own.

Drinking about 3.5 drinks a day doubles or even triples your risk of developing cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx and esophagus.

Drinking about 3.5 drinks a day increases your risk of developing colorectal cancer and breast cancer by 1.5 times.

The less alcohol you drink, the lower your cancer risk.

Drinking alcohol increases your risk of cancer
Drinking alcohol increases your risk of cancer

For those that don’t understand the “not affected” thinking, they may want to look at our page “The 20 Questions Test: Are you and alcoholic?”,  or our post “I’m a Jay Walker, too” .

Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jay-walking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. He enjoys himself for a few years in spite of friendly warnings. Up to this point you would label him as a foolish chap having queer ideas of fun.

Luck then deserts him and he is slightly injured several times in succession. You would expect him, if he were normal, to cut it out. Presently he is hit again and this time has a fractured skull.

Within a week after leaving the hospital a fast-moving trolley car breaks his arm. He tells you he has decided to stop jay-walking for good, but in a few weeks he breaks both legs.

On through the years this conduct continues, accompanied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the streets altogether. Finally, he can no longer work, his wife gets a divorce and he is held up to ridicule. He tries every known means to get the jay-walking idea out of his head. He shuts himself up in an asylum, hoping to mend his ways. But the day he comes out he races in front of a fire engine, which breaks his back. Such a man would be crazy, wouldn’t he?

~Dallas B.


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