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By: STEPHANIE MENCIMER\u3000|\u3000MotherJones<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier this month, I published a story looking at the link between alcohol consumption and cancer. The science in this area is pretty clear: Alcohol is implicated in about five percent of all cancer cases, and 15 percent of all breast cancers. The news came as a surprise to a lot of people, as it did to me when I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Since my story came out, I\u2019ve had many conversations with friends, colleagues and readers all wanting to know more about their own personal risk from drinking, how much is too much, and whether it\u2019s too late to cut back.<\/p>\n These are all important questions on an individual level, but when it comes to cancer and alcohol, individual risk isn\u2019t really the right focus for a broader public health discussion. Sure, it\u2019s important for people to try to reduce their own personal exposure, but fighting alcohol-related cancer can\u2019t solely focus on me and you. Prevention has to address a much broader population, to impact people who don\u2019t read Mother Jones, for example, or young people who don\u2019t know that alcohol is a carcinogen.<\/p>\n Consider breast cancer:<\/p>\n The good news is that breast cancer deaths in the US have fallen nearly 40 percent since 1989. The bad news is that the incidence rate of new cases has barely budged, and after a drop around 2000, they\u2019ve been ticking up again slightly.<\/p>\n