Alcohol Consumption and Ethyl Carbamate

This volume of the IARC Monographs provides a reassessment of the carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages and of ethyl carbamate (urethane), a frequent contaminant of fermented foods and alcoholic beverages. Although moderate alcohol consumption has some health benefits, the WHO identified the consumption of alcohol as one of the top-10 risks for worldwide burden of disease. An IARC Monographs Working Group reviewed epidemiological evidence, animal bioassays, and mechanistic and other relevant data to reach conclusions as to the carcinogenic hazard of alcohol consumption and ethyl carbamate to humans.