Senate hearing on the youth mental health crisis in Washington
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, around 3:05 p.m. GMT, Pernod Ricard lost 2.67%, while Remy Cointreau fell 4.77%. In Rome, Campari fell 4.23%, and in London, Diageo lost 3.97%.
The big European brewers are also suffering. AB Inbev fell by 2.77%, Carlsberg lost 1.38% and Heineken lost 1.86%.
On the New York Stock Exchange, whiskey manufacturer Jack Daniel Brown-Forman fell by more than 4%. Constellation Brands, owner of Corona beer, lost more than 2%.
“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 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.
(Writing by Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk, Brendan O'Brien and Susan Heavy in Washington and Bhanvi Satija in Bangalore; French version Pauline Foret, edited by Blandine Hénault)
