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Alcohol is a leading preventable cause of cancer, and alcoholic beverages should carry a warning label as packs of cigarettes do, the U.S. surgeon general said on Friday. It is the latest salvo in a fierce debate about the risks and benefits of moderate drinking as the influential U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are about to be updated. For decades, moderate drinking was said to help prevent heart attacks and strokes. (Caryn Rabin, 2/3)

Released on Friday, the advisory revealed that alcohol use contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year. It also found that alcohol-related cancer deaths shorten the lives of those who die by an average of 15 years. According to the advisory, the largest burden of alcohol-related cancer in the US is for breast cancer in women, with an estimated 44,180 cases in 2019, marking 16.4% of the approximately 270,000 total breast cancer cases for women. (Yang, 2/3)

Believing voters in the 2024 elections rejected Democrats’ more inclusive positions on transgender rights, Republicans appear ready in 2025 to double down in support of executive orders and provisions in spending bills that would make it harder for transgender individuals to get health care, serve in the military or participate in school activities. President-elect Donald Trump signaled on the campaign trail that he would pursue new restrictions in the military and in schools, and pledged in December to make U.S. policy reflect that there are only “two genders.” (Adragna, 1/2)

President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is just weeks away, and many of the staff at the Environmental Protection Agency are eyeing the exits rather than trying to hunker down to withstand the coming onslaught. ... Now, ahead of a second term that Trump and his advisers have said will be more aggressive in targeting the “deep state,” many EPA employees are considering whether now is the time to leave. (Snider and Guillén, 1/2)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stated desire to ban drug commercials from TV seems unlikely to become reality, according to advertising experts, but even pressure from Washington that falls short of an outright ban could lead to changes in the multibillion-dollar advertising sector. Absent new rules or a ban, drugmakers could update their own voluntary guidelines on advertising to address government scrutiny, as they have in the past. Feeling the heat, they could also shift some of their budgets toward digital advertising or marketing directly to healthcare providers. (Graham, 1/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Francis Collins On Supporting NIH And Finding Common Ground

Francis Collins led the National Institutes of Health for 12 years, under three presidents. During the Biden administration, he added White House science adviser to his long list of roles. Now he runs his own lab on the NIH campus, and his latest book, “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust,” came out in September. (Rovner, 1/2)