Dear editor:

Your December 3, 2022, editorial warning about alcohol propagates the myth that alcohol is a profound threat to health through its causing cancer. Recents story on CBC television had numerous women with breast cancer lamenting about how they had brought on the cancer itself by their moderate alcohol consumption. 
 I looked into the research upon which the story was based and discovered that moderate drinking increased mortality from cancer by 2%. Like many other journalists, the CBC reporter did not make a distinction between the increase in relative risk and the risk in absolute terms. Since mortality from cancer is generally rather low, any increase in relative terms appears to be very significant. In absolute terms, however, consumption of alcohol is a very minor contributor to cancer. It is about time that journalist begin to take seriously the ethics of reporting and making the distinction between relative and absolute risk.

Sincerely,

Dennis Raphael. 


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Dennis Raphael, PhD
Professor of Health Policy and Management
York University
4700 Keele Street
Strong College, Room 334
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
416-736-2100, ext. 22054
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Website: http://health.info.yorku.ca/health-profiles/index.php?mid=162284

Of interest:

The Politics of Health in the Canadian Welfare State

https://canadianscholars.ca/book/the-politics-of-health-in-the-canadian-welfare-state/

 

Poverty in Canada, 3rd edition,
Forewords by Cathy Crowe, Rob Ranier and Jack Layton

 

Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care, 3rd edition
Foreword by Gary Teeple
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/staying-alive/

 

Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, 3rd edition
Forewords by Michael Butler and Maude Barlow, Carolyn Bennett and Roy Romanow
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/social-determinants-of-health-3rd-edition/

Immigration, Public Policy, and Health: Newcomer Experiences in Developed Nations
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/immigration-public-policy-and-health/

About Canada: Health and Illness, 2nd edition
https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/about-canada-health-and-illness

Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences
Foreword by Alex Scott-Samuel
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/tackling-health-inequalities/

Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada: Essential Readings

https://canadianscholars.ca/book/health-promotion-and-quality-of-life-in-canada/

See a presentation! The Political Economy of Health Inequalities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NCTYqAub8g

Also, presentation at the University of Toronto on how Canada stacks up again other nations in providing citizens with economic and social security.
http://vimeo.com/33346501

See what Jack Layton had to say about my books!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/10/cv-election-ndp-layton-platform.html
at 27:20


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