Cancer Care Ontario is asking the province to reconsider plans to open LCBO liquor kiosks in grocery stores on the same day it is releasing a new report showing that up to 3,000 cases of cancer diagnosed annually in the province are caused by alcohol.

“We have called for a pause and not broadening of access, because of the evidence (that shows) it takes us in a direction that we don’t want to be going,” said Dr. Linda Rabeneck, vice president of prevention and cancer control for Cancer Care Ontario.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa announced a pilot project earlier this month that will see 10 LCBO-run kiosks open in select grocery stores across the province as a one-year pilot project. The LCBO Express stores-within-a-store are expected to open by year’s end.

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Rabeneck said she hopes the province looks at the health impact of increased availability of alcohol in addition to the extra revenue it generates.

A new report by Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), released Tuesday, reveals that between 1,000 and 3,000 cases of cancer diagnosed in 2010 are attributable to alcohol consumption.

Drinking alcoholic beverages increases the risk of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, larynx and liver. It is also a cause of colorectal and breast cancers, two of the three leading causes of cancer death in Ontario.

The report cites research showing only a third of Canadians are aware that they can lower their risk of cancer by reducing their alcohol consumption.

“It’s a class-one carcinogen … . There is no safe amount of alcohol,” Rabeneck warned.

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But if people are going to drink, CCO recommends that they stick within the limits recommended by the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research: No more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women.

Nearly 1 million Ontarians aged 19 and older report drinking beyond those levels, according to CCO.

A main goal of the report is to make Ontarians aware that alcohol is a modifiable risk factor for developing cancer.

Research by the organization that co-ordinates cancer services in Ontario shows significant sociodemographic inequalities among those who drink in excess of the guidelines. Prevalence is greater among the highest income group compared with lower-income groups, among Canadian-born adults compared with immigrants, and among adults living in rural areas compared with those in urban areas.