Carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages

In February, 2007, 26 scientists from 15 countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, to reassess the carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages and of ethyl carbamate (urethane), a frequent contaminant of fermented foods and beverages. These assessments will be published as volume 96 of the IARC Monographs.1 This paper reports on the assessment of alcoholic beverages. Details on the assessment of ethyl carbamate can be found at http://monographs.iarc.fr/.