Carolin has lived experience as child growing up in a home affected by alcohol addiction, as a person who has overcome her own alcohol use disorder and who lives in recovery, and as a person with two breast cancer scares.
In this blog post, Carolin shares her story. She shares her fears and concerns for her own children and she shines a light on the alcohol norm and alcohol industry practices in Germany that fuel and profit from addiction and that keep people in the dark about the link between alcohol and breast cancer.
Carolin makes a compelling, powerful case for redefining alcohol and for better alcohol policy in German society.

By Carolin Schürmann

It’s incredibly important to address this issue head-on. It took me nearly three generations to fully understand how harmful alcohol truly is. The realization came gradually, as I began to connect the dots in my own life. As a COA (Child of an Addict*) struggling with lifelong alcohol use disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, I didn’t seek help early on because of my own self-stigmatization. My traumatic childhood didn’t equip me to practice self-care, protect myself from health risks, or avoid self-harmful behaviors. Instead, those early experiences contributed to my chronic mental and physical illnesses. Alcohol, deeply intertwined with my emotional experiences, only made things worse. Whether it was a celebration, a wild night, a romantic evening, or just a casual gathering—there was always alcohol. As I grew older, I found myself sinking deeper into a cultivated, elitist victimhood because of the way I used alcohol.

The full impact of alcohol didn’t hit me until cancer knocked on my door. It was then that I truly understood the devastating consequences of the most harmful drug in the world. I nearly took my children’s mother away—just as my own mother had done—because of alcohol.

Even now, it astonishes me that despite being a well-educated woman, a leader in health communications, and a loving mother who had experienced alcohol’s damage firsthand, I failed for decades to realize just how destructive alcohol is.”

Carolin Schürmann

For years, alcohol was my constant companion. It was there to soothe me emotionally, deceive me, and tell me that “responsible” people like me could handle it. It promised a life of joy, celebration, and relaxation—so unlike my biological mother, whom I judged harshly for being weak. She lost control of her alcohol use in her 20s and abandoned me.

When my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer over a decade ago, we were devastated but hopeful that we could face it together as a family. She was a strong, “responsible” woman who detected the tumor early and received the best medical care. Yet, less than two years later, she passed away in 2014, not from cancer itself, but from liver failure caused by breast cancer.

At that time, I didn’t connect her illness to alcohol. The thought never even crossed my mind. I saw her as someone who consumed alcohol “responsibly”, just like I thought I did for so long. Alcohol didn’t seem like the problem, except in the case of my mother, Gerti.

It wasn’t until 2022, as a single mother, that I started taking a deeper look at alcohol’s impact on my own life. After years of maintaining what I thought was a “cultured” relationship with alcohol—and having survived two cancer scares between 2021 and 2024—I finally recognized that alcohol wasn’t just a problem for my mother. It was a broader, hidden risk that affected even those who considered themselves “responsible” alcohol consumers.

Even now, it astonishes me that despite being a well-educated woman, a leader in health communications, and a loving mother who had experienced alcohol’s damage firsthand, I failed for decades to realize just how destructive alcohol is.

I even suspect that there’s active work being done in Germany to ensure that exactly this does not happen: widespread recognition of how deadly alcohol truly is.”

Carolin Schürmann

The link between alcohol and breast cancer

The link between alcohol and cancer, particularly breast cancer, has been known since 1988. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified alcohol as carcinogenic, showing that already small amounts of alcohol consumoption are increasing the cancer risk. Women who drink just one glass of wine per day can significantly raise their chances of developing breast cancer. Yet, public discussions around this risk remain frustratingly silent.

In Germany, alcohol is still romanticized and seen as a harmless social companion. Advertising promotes it, and politicians turn a blind eye to the growing body of evidence about alcohol’s disastrous impact on our society. This silence is costing lives—especially women’s lives. It’s a form of systemic negligence that allows the risks of alcohol, particularly its link to breast cancer, to go unnoticed.

I even suspect that there’s active work being done in Germany to ensure that exactly this does not happen: widespread recognition of how deadly alcohol truly is.

Cultural stigma and silence

In German culture, alcohol is so normalized that going alcohol-free can lead to people being treated as outsiders. Both those with alcohol addiction and those who avoid it for health reasons face social stigma. Societal messages—champagne for celebrations, beer to relax—reinforce alcohol’s role in the “good life.”

This makes it difficult to speak openly about the health risks or struggles with addiction.

In my family, it was easier to stay silent about alcohol-related illness than confront it directly. My grandmother would rather say her daughter died of cancer than admit alcohol played a major role. As her granddaughter, approaching 50 myself, I now understand the lifelong mental and physical risks caused by alcohol—not just from alcohol use disorder and addiction but also from its deep-rooted cultural normalization and glamorization.

Germany’s alcohol policy: A health threat

Germany’s alcohol policies are failing.

But I think this lack of accountability by our government and parliament is unacceptable.”

Carolin Schürmann

Insufficient alcohol policy measures allow alcohol to remain cheap, easily available everywhere and all the time, and heavily advertised. Despite the obvious and serious health risks, including cancer, only few preventive measures are in place.

This situation is a threat to the health of the people. But it benefits alcohol companies.

The lines between the mythical concept of “responsible” alcohol consumption and high-risk alcohol use are deliberately blurred to maintain the current consumer culture, low levels of awareness, and the pervasive alcohol norm in German society.

But I think this lack of accountability by our government and parliament is unacceptable.

The alcohol industry claims it markets products only to those who can consume them “responsibly”. But this idea of “responsible consumption” ignores the fact that alcohol is a drug.

And the concept of “responsible” alcohol consumption got exposed as cynical marketing tactics by alcohol companies.

Nathalie Stüben and her team crunched the numbers and examined all scientific evidence. What they found is astonishing: at least 50.4% of alcohol sales in Germany, equating to €5.82 billion, come from high-risk or hazardous alcohol consumption.

In her article releasing the new figures, Nathalie wrote about the “business with addiction“.

50%
Alcohol industry dependence on high-risk alcohol consumption for sales and profits
At least 50.4% of alcohol sales in Germany come from high-risk or hazardous alcohol consumption.

Alcohol companies know exactly where their profits come from and they target the heavy and high-risk alcohol consumers deliberately. But they disguise these tactics with the marketing trick of pushing the “responsible drinking” narrative, blaming the people for alcohol harm and distracting from the inherent harm in the products and practices of alcohol companies.

Germany’s alcohol policies are failing but people want change and support alcohol policy action.

Call for change

To reduce breast cancer and other alcohol-related diseases, we need ambitious and evidence-based preventive measures. And we need them urgently!

  1. Ban alcohol advertising: Alcohol is a proven carcinogen and should be regulated like tobacco.
  2. Raise alcohol taxes: Making alcohol less affordable will reduce consumption, prevent harm, and increase revenue for the government to reinvest in alcohol addiction and mental healthcare services.
  3. Comprehensive awareness campaigns: Raising awareness of alcohol’s health risks, particularly regarding breast cancer, is essential for people to recognize the full extent of alcohol harm and redefine alcohol’s role in German society; for example two-thirds of Germans support cancer warning labeling on alcohol products.
  4. Address the stigma of alcohol addiction: Open, non-judgmental discussions about alcohol use and harms, based on human-centered and evidence-based language, need to become the norm to encourage everyone affected to seek help.
  5. Regulate alcohol sales: Like in Scandinavian countries, alcohol should not be available everywhere, all the time. Common sense limits on the presence of alcohol in our communities benefit everyone.

A call for responsibility

Politicians and other leaders in Germany need to take responsibility for the harm alcohol cuses people and society.

The continued neglect of these risks represents a failure—both political and societal.

As a daughter, mother, and woman who has seen and experienced the devastating effects of alcohol, I urge a rethinking of how we approach alcohol, both politically and culturally. It’s not “just” about preventing breast cancer and all other alcohol harms; it’s about addressing a deeply rooted social issue; it’s about redefining alcohol. Only then can we protect future generations from the same harm.


About Our Guest Expert

CAROLIN SCHÜRMANN

Carolin grew up in Bavaria in a family with addiction problems. She was already drinking alcohol when she was under 14, which was also culturally encouraged in her handball club. In 1999 she graduated from high school, then studied political science and completed her diploma in social sciences. Already from the age of 15, she was working in various jobs, mainly as a presenter and interviewer with doctors and patients. So she ended up as a young strategist in a leading global advertising agency and was primarily involved in health marketing. She lived in Cologne for over 10 years, had her two sons there and then rose to become a manager in Bavaria. There she was also chairwoman of the Bavarian Advertising Association from 2020 to 2024.

Carolin is living alcohol-free since 2022.

She founded her own consulting brand to destigmatize addiction (GERTY NUSS) and has since then been actively and politically committed to humane alcohol prevention in Germany. She has been a member of NACOA Germany since January 2023 and has been a regional spokesperson for Bavaria since September 2024. More about Carolin and her engagement: www.gertynuss.de

You can follow Carolin on LinkedIn: Carolin Schürmann.