Imagine if the American Cancer Society (ACS) was holding a fancy gala sponsored by the nation's leading cigarette companies. They would be roundly criticized for accepting money and providing free publicity for companies responsible for approximately 200,000 cancer deaths in the United States each year - the #1 cause of cancer. It would be clear that holding such an event would be inconsistent with the mission of the organization, which is to prevent cancer, not to promote cancer-causing products.
Sadly, the American Cancer Society is doing the same thing for companies that make another product: alcohol. This one is the #2 cause of cancer in the United States and causes 20,000 cancer deaths each year. While there is a quantitative difference (20,000 cancer deaths vs. 200,000), there is little qualitative difference between these actions. The American Cancer Society is essentially allowing itself to be used as a pawn in the marketing strategy of the alcohol companies. By tying alcohol companies to the cause of preventing cancer, the ACS is helping to obscure the well-recognized relationship between alcohol and cancer, which is a huge public relations favor for these companies.
In a landmark article in today's STAT News, Isabella Cueto and Lev Facher have exposed the pernicious role that alcohol companies have played in preventing the adoption of policies to reduce alcohol-related deaths and the role that the American Cancer Society is playing in helping the companies accomplish this.
According to the exposé:
"Len Lichtenfeld had a long-overdue apology to make. He was haunted in late 2024 by an exchange with a New York Times reporter almost a decade earlier, during which Lichtenfeld defended the American Cancer Society’s official stance that a drink or two a day was safe, even for cancer prevention. There was mounting evidence to the contrary, which he knew from epidemiologists on staff, but didn’t mention."
"Lichtenfeld left something else out, too: Behind the scenes, the American Cancer Society was raking in millions of dollars from the alcohol industry through an annual New York City gala, the details of which are reported here for the first time."
"Lichtenfeld, an oncologist who was then deputy chief medical officer at ACS, told STAT he felt indirect pressure to keep those donors happy. “It stayed with me, because I knew it was a conflicted situation,” he said."
So the American Cancer Society admitted that it was influenced by alcohol company donations to hide from the public the fact that moderate drinking is a cause of cancer and that even low-dose alcohol can cause breast cancer. The American Cancer Society essentially admitted to selling out the public's health and undermining its own mission in order to rake in millions of dollars from the alcohol industry.
The Rest of the Story
Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. STAT News has reported that the alcohol industry-sponsored gala will continue and is scheduled for October of this year:
"As alcohol’s many health risks come to light, the contradiction at these kinds of events becomes more apparent. The American Cancer Society’s opulent Wine and Spirits Industry’s Gala, which is set to happen again in October, is a vivid example. The event is among the cancer nonprofit’s most glamorous, taking place in the iconic Rainbow Room overlooking Manhattan. Last year, from the heights of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, representatives from wine and liquor firms dined on braised beef shank, imbibed pineapple margaritas, and shared bottles of cabernet as they bid on a live auction. Flyers on high-top tables during dessert read: “Regular cancer screening can save your life."
I am quoted in the article as stating:
"That is shocking, actually. For the American Cancer Society to be doing it is particularly appalling because they’re specifically charged with, or claim to be, trying to prevent cancer."
You aren't preventing cancer if you provide a platform for manufacturers of a product that causes cancer to sponsor your event and market their products, while at the same time pretending to be committed to preventing cancer. This public relations gift that the ACS is granting to Big Alcohol is worth far more than whatever amount the alcohol companies are paying to provide free alcohol.
Disturbingly, the ACS apparently tried to downplay its involvement, telling STAT News that: "The extent of ACS’s involvement in the alcohol gala is some administrative support provided by staff."
What a load of crap! The American Cancer Society's name and logo are all over the event web site and it is eminently clear that this is an ACS event that honors the wine and spirits "industries." This is more than just serving wine and spirits at the event; it is actually honoring the alcohol industry itself.
Instead of trying to pull the wool over our eyes, the ACS should just admit, like its former medical director did, that they are selling themselves, and their cancer prevention mission, out to Big Alcohol money.
The event website boasts that: "The Wine + Spirits Industry’s Gala has raised more than $22 million to support the American Cancer Society’s mission to end cancer as we know it, for everyone."
Well perhaps not for everyone. The ACS is selling out the 20,000 people who will die from alcohol-related cancer this year.
