Representative James Comer (R-KY) is seen during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC. (Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
On Wednesday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) criticized the Biden Administration for promoting an "unscientific, predetermined narrative" about the negative effects of alcohol on health. Comer's statement comes little more than a week after the U.S. Surgeon General claimed that alcohol consumption is linked to at least seven types of cancer, data which is primed to shift advisory guidelines in years to come.
“Rather than examine all available science, the Biden Administration’s public health apparatus is once again cherry-picking data and operating in secrecy to drive its agenda before President Trump takes office next week," Comer said in a statement.
Comer took specific issue with a draft report released by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking. The exhaustive 81-page report included data gathered by researchers at Columbia University, the Mayo Clinic and WHO. According to one finding in the study, Americans have a one-in-1,000 risk of dying from alcohol use if they drink more than seven times a week. Another statistic reiterated the connection between alcohol consumption and cancers including colorectal, oral cavity and larynx.
The ICCPUD's report is among three released on the federal level over the past two months. The New York Times reports that Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, has urged Congress to update alcohol labels where necessary.
Comer claims that the studies have been a waste of taxpayer money.
"The Oversight Committee is demanding immediate transparency from Biden’s HHS about why it commissioned additional evaluations outside of the congressionally mandated, recently published National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study," Comer added. "Americans deserve honesty from the federal government about the processes used to determine public health guidelines.”
According to Comer's telling of events, the Biden Administration is attempting to sledgehammer a public health agenda in the days before Trump takes office. However, it's still unclear where the Trump administration stands on the issue.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the incoming nominee to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been outspoken about the dangers of alcohol throughout his career. President-elect Trump, meanwhile, is a famous teetotaler who claims to have never consumed alcohol in his life. Neither Kennedy nor Trump has commented publicly about the recently released studies.
Brian Darling, a former senior aide to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, says that Trump and Kennedy's personal preferences are unlikely to translate into policy.
"I can't imagine that a Republican Congress would act like the nanny state and force labels on alcohol beverages saying that they may cause cancer," Darling told Reuters. "It just seems completely inconsistent with freedom and everything that the party stands for.”
Trump has previously drawn criticism from the alcohol industry over his 10%-20% universal tariff proposal, a move that some speculate could lead to a trade war over products like tequila and scotch whisky.
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