The role of alcohol as a co-carcinogen.

If cancer occurs because of what we eat, what we drink, what we smoke, and to some extent where we live and work, it follows that over 80% of cancers in human beings are related to environmental causes and therefore preventable.Since virtually every major chemical is under investigation for its carcinogenic effect, it is high time that the biological impact of alcohol received more than scant attention from the health professions as a lifestyle chemical which may be a factor in the commencement or promotion of modern man's most deadly disease.Clinical and epidemiological studies have implicated the excessive use of alcohol with the risk of developing certain cancers, especially when combined with heavy smoking. Other factors associated with drinking and increased risk of cancer consist of geographic, racial, sex and organ specificity, variations of which must be borne in mind in any study of potential environmental hazards.Research is currently under way to determine whether certain alcohol beverages may contain carcinogens, which may focus attention on the role of heavy drinking as one additional environmental factor in the spectrum of exogenous agents related to cancer production.