(News Bulletin 247) – Alcohol makers are struggling on the stock market while the United States public health administrator wants to put cancer warning labels on alcohol bottles. In Paris, Rémy Cointreau and Pernod Ricard stumble.

Spirits producers and brewers fell on the stock market Friday after the U.S. Surgeon General called in a report for cancer warning labels on alcohol bottles.

The country’s Chief Medical Officer, Vivek Murthy, made the request on the sidelines of the publication of a report indicating that alcohol consumption increases the risk of seven types of cancer, including breast, colon and liver. .

On the Paris Stock Exchange, Pernod Ricard lost 3%, while Remy Cointreau fell 4.8%. In Rome, Campari fell 4.4%, and in London, Diageo lost 3.7%.

The big European brewers are also suffering. AB Inbev fell by 2.4%, Heineken lost 1.6% and Carlsberg lost 0.8%.

On the New York Stock Exchange, whiskey manufacturer Jack Daniel Brown-Forman fell 1.4%. Constellation Brands, owner of Corona beer, lost more than 1.2%.

Third preventable cause of cancer in the United States

“Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity,” Vivek Murthy’s administration said in its report, adding that “the direct link between alcohol consumption alcohol and cancer risk is well established for seven types of cancer, regardless of the type of alcohol consumed.

Diageo, Pernod, Heineken, AB Inbev and other spirits and beer producers did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

It remains to be seen whether Vivek Murthy’s recommendation will be adopted as the Joe Biden administration enters its final weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on January 20.

Donald Trump, whose brother died of alcoholism and who does not drink himself, has long warned of the risks associated with alcohol. The decision will ultimately be up to the US Congress.

(With Reuters)