Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking the debate. We are all aware of excessive alcohol intake and its effect on society and people, on their physical and mental health, as well as the social effects that alcohol has. We are all aware of people who developed cirrhosis of the liver, and we think that is the only physical illness that alcohol will cause in people. People are not aware, however, that alcohol causes cancer. The most important part of this legislation is to educate people that cancer is a real risk if they drink alcohol. Less is best. We will not eliminate the consumption of alcohol but we must let people know that if they drink alcohol to excess they have a higher risk of developing cancer. The purpose is not to stop people drinking; we will obviously never do that.

We do, however, want people to drink sensibly and to drink within the recommended limits. For a male, the recommended limit is for 17 units of alcohol a week and, for a female, it is 11 units per week. A pint is two units, a glass of wine is one unit and a bottle of wine is eight units. We can work out ourselves how many units we drink in a week. If we stay within those limits, the likelihood of developing cancer is reduced by 50%. The risk of cancer will never be eliminated and we are never going to eliminate the consumption of alcohol. We are trying in this Bill to educate people so they are aware that if they drink sensibly the risk of cancer will be reduced. It will never be eliminated and that is not the purpose of the Bill. It is to try to reduce the toll that alcohol takes in the form of cancer.

There are 900 cancer related illnesses diagnosed every year, starting from the mouth, the throat, the oesophagus, the bowel, the liver and also including breast cancer. Several Members have outlined them. Of those 900 illnesses diagnosed, 500 will die every year. This Bill has been in the Dáil or the Oireachtas for more than 1,000 days. If we work out the mathematics, that is 2,700 people who have developed an alcohol related cancer and 1,500 who have died from an alcohol related cancer since this Bill was introduced into the Dáil. Every day this Bill is delayed is taking a toll on someone's life. Cancer is a risk. We all know that. That risk cannot be eliminated, but we have to educate people. It would be remiss of us if we put labels on alcohol that had the calorific content and a bland health warning but that did not mention cancer. It might give a touch of cancer but do not mention cancer. There are small diagrammatic pregnancy warnings on alcohol, but nevertheless it is important that people are aware of the damage that alcohol can cause if it is consumed during pregnancy. There is a significant entity called foetal alcohol syndrome where the baby of a person who drinks excessively during pregnancy can be affected developmentally because of the alcohol that mother has consumed.

There is no sense in putting warnings on our bottles if we exclude cancer. There would be a case to be taken against the alcohol industry if it was known, as the World Health Organization has said, that alcohol is a grade 1 carcinogenic and that warning was not put on its products. The alcohol industry is leaving itself open to litigation if it did that. We must not underestimate the power of the alcohol industry. There has been intense lobbying over recent months. We have all experienced it. It is, unfortunately, the power of that lobby that has led to the length of this debate. The fact that Ireland will be unique in the world in introducing this warning on labels is to be commended, as Deputy-----

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