‘Alcohol is a poison’ that needs honest warning labels, says Senator Patrick Brazeau
Senator Brazeau, a colon cancer survivor, has introduced a private member’s bill to mandate health warning labels on alcohol bottles
By Alexandra Keeler | 5-minute read
Senator Patrick Brazeau may be best remembered for facing off with then Liberal MP Justin Trudeau in a 2012 charity boxing match — or perhaps for the series of scandals that followed, including assault and cocaine possession charges and being suspended from the Senate for improper housing expenses.
But Brazeau, who was reinstated to the Senate in 2016, says he would like to be remembered for making the public more aware of alcohol’s health risks.
“We just need to look at alcohol for what it is,” Brazeau told Canadian Affairs in an interview. “It is a poison [that] causes a lot of negative impacts to individuals, families and society as a whole.”
Since 2022, Brazeau has been fighting to require alcoholic drinks in Canada to include cancer warning labels.
“To reduce the number of loved ones being taken before their time, it is absolutely essential to provide this information directly and plainly to consumers,” Brazeau said in June 2023, during a second reading of a bill he introduced to require alcohol warning labels.
For Brazeau, the fight is personal. Brazeau battled colon cancer while managing substance use issues.
“[I] battled colon cancer … and at that time, I wasn’t aware [of the cancer risks],” said Brazeau in an interview with Canadian Affairs.
“I was in the 75 per cent category that was not aware that alcohol consumption caused seven fatal, known cancers.”
‘No concerns whatsoever’
Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen, putting it in the same category as tobacco and asbestos, according to the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. It is linked to multiple fatal cancers and significant public health harms.
At least 47 WHO member states mandate some form of health or safety warning on alcohol containers. In Canada, there are no federal requirements for health warning labels on alcoholic beverages — as exist for cannabis or cigarettes.
“Since we had cancer warning labels on tobacco packaging, smoking in the last 20 years has gone down almost 25 per cent — which is quite significant,” said Brazeau.
Some experts have told Canadian Affairs that Canadian governments are hesitant to act, partly due to their own financial dependence on alcohol revenues.
The alcohol industry has also been very effective at downplaying alcohol’s health risks and lobbying against warning labels. In some cases, they have even threatened legal action against governments that tried to implement them.
“The biggest pushback is from one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the world — the alcohol lobby,” said Brazeau. “Their only real concern is profits.
“They have no concerns whatsoever about the health and wellbeing of Canadians.”
The industry group Spirits Canada told Canadian Affairs that cancer is a complex disease with “multiple contributing factors which are difficult to convey effectively in a warning label.”
“The spirits industry is highly regulated and will always commit to following all laws and regulations that govern labelling,” Via Dulay, director of communications and public affairs for Spirits Canada, told Canadian Affairs in an email.
She added that Canada already has “an integrated network of policies” to inform consumers that “alcohol is a unique product which warrants careful attention.”
Spirits Canada said it supports Health Canada’s low-risk drinking guidelines, but referred to the 2011 version still posted on the Health Canada website, which recommends no more than 10 drinks per week for women and 15 for men.
While Health Canada mandated and funded the creation of 2023 drinking guidelines — which say no amount of alcohol is risk-free and risks rise significantly with more than two drinks per week — it has not replaced the 2011 guidelines on its website.
Bill S-202
In an effort to force Ottawa to act, Brazeau first introduced a private member’s bill that would require better alcohol labelling in 2022. That bill failed to pass before Parliament was prorogued in March. But when Parliament resumed this May, Brazeau reintroduced it.
Bill S-202 would require alcoholic drinks with more than 1.1 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) to include labels.
These labels would have to warn of alcohol’s health risks, define a standard alcoholic drink, state how many standard drinks are in a package and indicate the recommended limit of standard drinks.
Bill S-202 recognizes the “direct causal link between alcohol consumption and the development of fatal cancers,” the bill reads.
Brazeau says he does not expect change overnight. But by introducing Bill S-202, he hopes to lay the groundwork for a healthier, better-informed public.
Many public health experts hope to see this happen.
Tim Stockwell, a senior scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and professor at the University of Victoria, described cancer warning labels on alcohol as “a perfect place to start telling the truth about alcohol.”
A 2023 Health Canada survey showed 75 per cent of people think a health warning label would make them reconsider the harms caused by drinking.
“Most people in Canada agree that alcohol labels should display or provide standard drink information, guidance on health risks and health warnings and should not be exempt from displaying the health information we receive for other regulated products like cannabis or tobacco,” a spokesperson from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction told Canadian Affairs in an email.
‘Plant the seeds’
In addition to cancer warnings, experts say labels should also display other important information.
“If I buy a can of peas, I know how many calories there are, and I know the ingredients, and I know the serving size, and I know how many servings there are per container,” said Timothy Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and a professor at the University of Victoria.
“[When] I buy a bottle of vodka and it just says 40 per cent ABV — I don’t know what the serving size is, I don’t know how many Canadian standard drinks there are per container.”
Peter Butt, a clinical professor at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of Canada’s low-risk drinking guidelines, said it is hypocritical for the alcohol industry to resist warning labels.
Alcohol producers that make non-alcoholic products — such as Corona Cero, a non-alcoholic beer enhanced with Vitamin D and only 60 calories per bottle — were willing to include nutritional labels when it meant gaining access to grocery store shelves.
“They whinge about the problems with labeling, but there was absolutely no hesitation whatsoever when they could get product recognition in grocery stores,” he said.
“So a warning label [is possible, and] if anything, easier, because it’s less complicated [than nutrition information] — you see some of this hypocrisy.”
Brazeau’s bill passed second reading in the Senate in June 2023. It still needs to be studied by a Senate committee — something Brazeau hopes will happen this fall — and pass third reading in the Senate. It would then need to also be passed in the House of Commons.
The vast majority of private member’s bills never become law. But private member’s bills often help to make the public aware of issues.
“This is a bill to plant the seeds so that people could have better health information,” said Brazeau.
“It just takes time, but it needs to start somewhere.”
This article was produced through the Breaking Needles Fellowship Program, which provided a grant to Canadian Affairs, a digital media outlet, to fund journalism exploring addiction and crime in Canada. Articles produced through the Fellowship are co-published by Break The Needle and Canadian Affairs.
I agree with this article. Look at smoking, I would say the main factors /reasons are public opinion and expense . It’s now embarrassing to smoke, no smoking signs everywhere. And taxed heavily. Alcohol kills. As many deterrents , like be honest about amount, on labels WHO recommends ‘1’drink per day, I mean health? They put warnings on bleach, the crossbones and skull, every tiny thing helps, why not support health?
I don’t believe labels do anything but keep those who don’t have an issue with it away. Not so for those who are addicted to alcohol or cigerettes… for anyone to think that this will dissuade people from drinking is obvious that people don’t understand addiction. Why not put alcoholism on the death certificate - then the stats would really show the consequences. Don’t forget, alcohol is a food group and no one wants to give up something that gives people an escape - to soothe a troubled soul…