Alcohol is the risk of breast cancer that no one wants to talk about

Martinez had never run a social media campaign and does not consider herself to be a social media expert. But after ARG won the $ 100,000 grant, she led focus groups, coordinated an advisory group of cancer organizations, assembled a team of co-researchers, and partnered with the communications specialist in ‘ARG. “The young women made it clear that they didn’t want to be told what to do,” Martinez says of the focus groups. “‘Drink less for your breasts’ sounded more like a helpful suggestion.”

Planning for the social media campaign began just as the pandemic forced a nationwide shutdown. As the pandemic dragged on, alcohol consumption increased, especially among women. Heavy drinking days for women, defined as four or more drinks in a few hours, increased 41 percent, according to a RAND Corporation survey. (The study compared a baseline survey of 1,540 adults conducted in spring 2019 with their responses during a follow-up in spring 2020.)

But fighting alcohol consumption is not easy. As the United States discovered during a disastrous 1920-1933 ban period, opposing alcohol is not popular. When Sharima Rasanayagam, chief scientist for Breast Cancer Prevention Partners in San Francisco, lectures on the environmental causes of breast cancer, her audience is elated, until she mentions alcohol. “People like to drink and they don’t like to hear it,” she says. She tells them that quantity matters: “At the very least, drink less.

It’s a message she delivers with caution, to avoid giving women a reason to blame themselves if they develop breast cancer and wonder, “Why me? Cases of breast cancer cannot be linked to alcohol alone, as many factors, including genetics and environmental exposures, contribute to the disease, she explains in a YouTube video linked to the Breast Cancer website. Prevention Partners. But Rasanayagam notes that the risks add up, and alcohol is one that women can reduce. Fewer drinks, whether over time or in a day, means less exposure to acetaldehyde and potentially less of an effect on estrogen. “It has been shown that the less you drink, the less risk you are,” she says. (Breast Cancer Prevention Partners is an advisor to the Drink Less For Your Breasts campaign.)

It’s a nuanced message but, in its own way, bold, as framed in a social media campaign, says David Jernigan, an alcohol policy expert at Boston University who works in the domain for 35 years. “What Priscilla is doing in California is revolutionary,” he says.

Jernigan says the harms of alcohol, which also include drunk driving and an association with violence, warrant a similar large-scale response to anti-smoking efforts. He notes that in Estonia, a campaign urging “Drink less than half! in fact reduced per capita consumption by 28 percent. (Estonia’s alcohol policy also included restrictions on advertising, stricter enforcement of driving under the influence laws, higher taxes, and a focus on treatment.)

The World Health Organization is also developing a global action plan; the current project sets a target of reducing per capita consumption by 20 percent by 2030 (with 2010 consumption levels as a benchmark). It urges countries to develop and implement “high impact policy options”, such as higher alcohol taxes, restrictions on advertising, and emphasizes awareness of health risks.

Jernigan calls this effort a good step that does not go far enough. He supports the development of an international alcohol treaty, similar to the “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control”, the first of its kind negotiated by the World Health Organization. It was signed by 168 countries that pledged to take action to restrict tobacco advertising, increase cigarette taxes and prevent young people from smoking.