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Stop drinking wine, says French cancer agency
by Scott Gilbreath ~ February 25th, 2009
Just in time for Lent, France’s Department of Health has recommended that everyone stop drinking wine in order to reduce the risk of cancer.
“The consumption of alcohol, and especially wine, is discouraged,” say guidelines that are drawn from the findings of the National Cancer Institute (INCA). A single glass of wine per day will raise your chance of contracting cancer by up to 168 percent, it says.
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“Small daily doses of alcohol are the most harmful. There is no amount, however small, which is good for you,” said Dominique Maraninchi, INCA’s president.
Wine producers went ballistic.
Xavier de Volontat, president of the producers’ assocation in the southwestern Languedoc region, told us by phone today: “The extremists must not be allowed to take consumers hostage… Wine consumption has dropped by 50 percent over the last 20 years in France but cancer has increased. You have to admit, that’s a paradox.”
France’s Health Minister responded to the uproar by contradicting her own ministry’s recommendation.
Roselyne Bachelot says that alcohol should be consumed in a “reasonable, cultural and balanced” way.
Despite the reassuring comment, growers remain suspicious of the government of Nicolas Sarkozy, the country’s first tee-total president.
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