“The more you drink, the higher the risk,” said Dr. Clifford A. Hudis, the chief executive of ASCO. “It’s a pretty linear dose-response.”

Even those who drink moderately, defined by the Centers for Disease Control as one daily drink for women and two for men, face nearly a doubling of the risk for mouth and throat cancer and more than double the risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, compared to nondrinkers. Moderate drinkers also face elevated risks for cancers of the voice box, female breast cancer and colorectal cancers.

The risk for heavy drinkers — defined as eight or more drinks a week for women and 15 or more a week for men, including binge drinkers — are multiples higher. Heavy drinkers face roughly five times the risk of mouth and throat cancers and squamous cell esophageal cancers than nondrinkers, nearly three times the risk of cancers of the voice box or larynx, double the risk of liver cancer, as well as increased risks for female breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

“If you look at these figures, you see alcohol is a contributing factor; certainly it has a causal role,” Dr. Hudis said.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, first classified the consumption of alcoholic beverages as carcinogenic to humans in 1987, tying consumption to cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus and liver, said Susan Gapstur, vice president for epidemiology at the American Cancer Society.

Since then, she said, more and more evidence has accumulated tying alcohol to a broader group of cancers, including colorectal cancer and, in women, breast cancer. A more recent I.A.R.C. report concluded that alcohol “is a cause of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colorectum, liver and female breast.” (The esophageal cancer is largely specific to squamous cell carcinoma.)

“The story of alcohol has been quite consistent and has been peeled away like an onion over time, and we’re continuing to learn more about the mechanisms involved,” Dr. Gapstur said. “We don’t have randomized trials, but sometimes when you start looking at the coherence of all the evidence, including the observational epidemiology, the lab studies, the mechanistic studies, you begin to see a picture and get more clarity.”