Alaska last month became the first state in the nation to require all alcohol retailers to post signs at the point of sale warning that alcohol use can cause cancer, including breast and colon cancers.

The measure was included in Senate Bill 15, which authorizes workers under 21 to serve alcohol, and which became law April 25 without the governor’s signature.

In January, the U.S. Surgeon General said alcoholic beverages, as a leading preventable cause of cancer, should carry warning labels. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists at least seven types of cancer increased by alcohol consumption, including breast, liver and colon.

The provision to SB 15 was introduced by Alaska State Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage.

“I want Alaskans to make informed decisions about their health, and I hope that through Senate Bill 15 the state can thoroughly publicize the well-proven link between alcohol and cancer,” he said in a April 28 press release from the Alaska House majority.

Outside the Legislature, Gray works as a physician assistant at Alaska Urgent Care. Previously, he was a physician assistant with the Alaska Army National Guard and the Alaska VA, according to the release.

Anchorage internal medicine physician Madeleine Grant, MD, in the release said very few of her patients are aware that alcohol is carcinogenic.

“Educating Alaskans about this will help to prevent cancers (including common ones, such as breast and colon cancers) and also help decrease healthcare costs for all of us,” she said.

The new sign requirement will go into effect statewide on Aug. 1.