I enjoyed reading the Jan. 13 op-ed “Alcoholic beverages should warn about cancer.”

More than 100 years ago, alcoholic beverages were vital to sterilizing what humans drank and ate in an era where our understanding of bacteria was primitive or nonexistent. Before pasteurization, alcohol was the cheapest and best means to sterilize food in an era where people didn’t live as long as they do today and thus didn’t suffer as much from the long-term effects of this poison via cancer and other chronic problems (other than cirrhosis of the liver). Neither was drinking and driving as destructive as it is today.

Today, due to our deeper understanding of pathogens, we have superior methods to sterilize food and cleaner preparation conditions. (As a result, in part, we have greater longevity.) We also have a far better awareness of alcohol’s effects on our biochemistry as a poison and anesthetic.

Though alcoholic drinks will likely be with us forever, it is important to inform the public of the long-term effects of alcohol as well as the effects of DUI by not only adding labels to alcoholic drinks but by educating our students in mandatory health classes.

If people want to poison themselves by imbibing ethanol, that’s fine. But they need to be aware of what alcohol abuse can do to themselves and the people around them, because democracy always requires that we make informed choices.

Dr. Michael Pravica
Henderson, Nev.