The Patriot Post® · Biden's Surgeon General Plays Daddy

The end of Joe Biden’s administration can’t come fast enough. The latest reminder of this comes courtesy of his surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who has issued yet another insufferable “health” warning. You can trust him. He’s an expert.

What public health issue is so pressing that it motivated Murthy to issue a call to action from Congress on his way out the door?

Alcohol.

That’s right. But it’s not a warning over alcohol abuse or the dangers of drunk driving. No, Murthy wants to warn Americans of the rather dubious links between moderate alcohol consumption and cancer.

“Many people out there assume that as long as they’re drinking at the limits or below the limits of current guidelines of one a day for women and two for men, that there is no risk to their health or well-being,” Murthy said. He then noted that people face an increased risk for cancer with even moderate drinking.

What is the degree of this risk? Well, for men who have less than one drink per week, the risk of cancer is 10%, which rises to 13% for men who average two drinks a day. For women, the risk of cancer rises from 16.5% to 22% for those who average two drinks a day. Responding to Murthy’s X post featuring a graphic depicting the cancer risk, one commenter humorously observed, “There is a marginal risk of cancer in becoming alcoholic.”

Marginal risk, indeed. The fact of the matter is this is all based on correlation, not causation. Tellingly, the report Murthy cites states, “Evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day.” There is well-established evidence of a causal link between heavy drinking and throat and mouth cancer. However, the keyword in the study says it all: “may.” In other words, no actual causal link has been established between moderate alcohol consumption and cancer.

People get cancer all the time, and the causes — if they can be determined — are often linked to a myriad of factors. On top of that, alcohol abuse has long been known to be detrimental to a person’s health, contributing to everything from liver and heart disease to cancer, to name but a few.

Despite the fact an increasing number of Americans know that heavy alcohol consumption has been linked to a heightened risk for cancer, Murthy wants Congress to act to mandate cancer warning labels on alcohol. Yet even he admits, “If an individual drinks occasionally for special events, or if you’re drinking a drink or two a week, your risk is likely to be significantly less than if you’re drinking every day.” If that’s the case, then why engage in this costly endeavor that won’t do much more than raise the price of alcohol? Furthermore, studies have repeatedly shown that warning labels do little to change people’s behavior.

Meanwhile, didn’t Biden promise to end cancer? On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden told a crowd of supporters, “I promise you if I’m elected president, you’re going to see the single most important thing that changes America. We’re gonna cure cancer.” Well, four years later, we’re still waiting.

The truth is that Biden’s ridiculous promise is as stupefying as Murthy’s call for warning labels on alcohol. Neither will accomplish anything. They are simple virtue signals designed to placate the emotionally incompetent.

The American people aren’t children, no matter what the Biden administration and Washington’s bureaucratic class may believe. A free people demand a government that serves them by defending their liberty, not acting as a nanny state that promises to protect people from themselves.

Like Murthy’s previous “health” warnings, this latest one only furthers the aims of Big Government. It does not meet the needs of the American people.