Surgeon General Warns of Connection Between Alcohol Use and Cancer

[Anonymous]

I’ll be avoiding alcohol. I can easily do without.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure why studies don’t include the chemicals/pesticides used at wineries, and how those might be a bigger reason for higher rates of cancer.

Because that’s absurd

It really is not. Grapes are fragile; to be grown in any quantity they have to be sprayed over and over for pests, fungi, molds—it’s a long, long list.

My dad, a PhD in agricultural chemistry, worked in the pesticide industry for more than 30 years—usually in contexts where pesticide residues were much more dilute (wheat, corn, soy). When he learned what is sprayed on grapes (I eat 2-3 lbs a week and have since childhood) he came home and said “those, you might want to buy organic.”

It’s all concentrated in wine. I drink that too! But we can’t pretend it’s not in there.

I am the OP who brought up the point about pesticides etc used at wineries. Thank you PP for your insight. My dad specialized in internal medicine and he said the same thing. He believed there was a link with these residues in red wine and breast cancer in women.

Thank you for sharing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure why studies don’t include the chemicals/pesticides used at wineries, and how those might be a bigger reason for higher rates of cancer.

Because that’s absurd

It really is not. Grapes are fragile; to be grown in any quantity they have to be sprayed over and over for pests, fungi, molds—it’s a long, long list.

My dad, a PhD in agricultural chemistry, worked in the pesticide industry for more than 30 years—usually in contexts where pesticide residues were much more dilute (wheat, corn, soy). When he learned what is sprayed on grapes (I eat 2-3 lbs a week and have since childhood) he came home and said “those, you might want to buy organic.”

It’s all concentrated in wine. I drink that too! But we can’t pretend it’s not in there.

I am the OP who brought up the point about pesticides etc used at wineries. Thank you PP for your insight. My dad specialized in internal medicine and he said the same thing. He believed there was a link with these residues in red wine and breast cancer in women.

So that’s interesting. Perhaps it’s not the alcohol but the pesticides in alcoholic drinks.

It would be nice, wouldn't it? Alas, I don't think it's an either/or. These alcohol studies have not all been done on people who are strictly wine-drinkers. Distillation removes a lot of bad stuff from water (including glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, which my dad once heard a Monsanto exec say he would eat out of a bag because he was so convinced it was safe for humans). Alcohol distills at an even lower temperature than water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see the studies of the French and Italians.

I guarantee you, they consume much less pesticides (poisons) than we do.

The EU made it illegal to poison people, unlike our FDA, USDA, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see the studies of the French and Italians.

I guarantee you, they consume much less pesticides (poisons) than we do.

The EU made it illegal to poison people, unlike our FDA, USDA, etc.

There’s so much misnformation on this thread but this might take the the cake. Stop “doing your research” on instagram and YouTube.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see the studies of the French and Italians.

I guarantee you, they consume much less pesticides (poisons) than we do.

The EU made it illegal to poison people, unlike our FDA, USDA, etc.

There’s so much misnformation on this thread but this might take the the cake. Stop “doing your research” on instagram and YouTube.

I am not the PP who posted that thread, but I agreed with them. Check out regulations for PFAS levels in Europe versus Canada and the US. They are much lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see the studies of the French and Italians.

I guarantee you, they consume much less pesticides (poisons) than we do.

The EU made it illegal to poison people, unlike our FDA, USDA, etc.

There’s so much misnformation on this thread but this might take the the cake. Stop “doing your research” on instagram and YouTube.

^ Sounds like a government worker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all very well for them to warn about this, but speaking as someone who moved here aged 30, the US is one of the MOST stressful countries in the world to live in with virtually no social safety net, minimal paid vacations, minimal paid leave, lack of universal healthcare, sky high professional expectations, sky high cost of living that does not tally with salaries, lack of access to decent food. Life is hard here. Everyone is on SSRIs and the SSRIs aren't even any good. People aren't drinking just because it's fun and take it or leave it. Most people have a glass of wine or a beer because it provides some kind of respite from what is otherwise a highly stressful life. I disagree that people dont know drinking is not the healthiest choice, but they typically still choose to do it because the alternative is their life just sucks and when they say it sucks they are told to 'journal' or 'be more mindful'.
American society is broken and no one here seems to notice or want to do anything about it. In fact the opposite - they elect people who actively scorn those who want to do something about it. And then tell everyone - your problems and day to day survival are on you, and expect them to have no vices. Insane.

Yup.... I agree with your assessment of the US and our national quality of life issues. I'd like a Nordic system that combines a strong, capitalistic market economy AND a strong social safety net, paid leave, universal health care, and good governance.

But....we can't because the Nordic countries are "socialist" or whatever. 'Murica for the win!

There's a lot of alcoholism and suicides in Nordic countries.