Last week, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk, “outlining the direct link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, increasing risk for at least seven types of cancer. While scientific evidence for this connection has been growing over the past four decades, less than half of Americans recognize it as a risk factor for cancer,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release.

This move is the latest in a debate about the risks and benefits of moderate drinking and comes as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are about to be updated, reported the New York Times. “But growing research has linked drinking, sometimes even within the recommended limits, to various types of cancer,” wrote the Times.

“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States—greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. —yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. “This Advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm.”

Labels currently affixed to alcoholic beverages warn about drinking while pregnant, before driving or operating other machinery, and about general “health risks.”

Only Congress can mandate new warning labels of the sort Dr. Murthy recommended, and it’s not clear that the incoming administration would support the change, according to the Times.