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This is Science Friday.

I'm Iroof Plato.

And I'm Flora Lichtman.

Today in the podcast,

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy gives his parting prescriptions for a healthier life.

First of all, not telling everyone that they should completely stop drinking and that there's

never an occasion at which you can have a drink. What we are doing is asking people to re-examine

their practices and behaviors with alcohol. Most of us are very familiar with the dangers of alcohol, how risky driving under the

influence is, the damage alcohol can do to the liver.

But now the surgeon general has highlighted another negative consequence of drinking alcohol,

and that is cancer.

In his latest report, Dr. Vivek Murthy detailed the growing body of research

showing that drinking alcohol can increase the risk of certain types of cancer. He's also recommended

adding a warning label to alcoholic drinks, outlining the connection between alcohol use

and cancer. Dr. Murthy joins me to talk about the science

that informed his latest advisory. Welcome back to Science Friday. Nice to have you. Thanks so much,

Ira. I always love being on with you. Thank you. Nice to have you here. Dr. Murthy, what are the types

of cancers we're talking about here for which alcohol is a cause?

Well, thanks, Ira. Look, alcohol is now the third leading preventable cause of cancer behind

tobacco and obesity. It's responsible for 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths

in the United States every year. It's now clear that alcohol is causally linked to

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