An Open Letter to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

January 6, 2025

Dear Surgeon General Murthy,

In 2023, you released a concerning and fascinating Advisory entitled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.” In this Advisory, you detailed your growing awareness of the sense of isolation that is felt by many Americans.  “When I first took office as Surgeon General in 2014, I didn’t view loneliness as a public health concern. But that was before I embarked on a cross-country listening tour, where I heard stories from my fellow Americans that surprised me.” You go on to demonstrate in graphs, charts, and words how our time spent alone has increased over the last two decades and how our opportunities for and time spent with in-person social engagements have significantly decreased. And you sum up the costs of these changes and this loneliness in alarming terms. “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”

I am writing to you as hopefully an ally in this battle against loneliness – albeit an unusual ally.

My name is Adam Lee, and I am a winemaker and a winery owner. I’ve spent over 35 years of my life introducing people to the joys and intricacies of wine. Just last week, you released a new Advisory highlighting the correlation between alcohol consumption and the increased risk of certain types of cancers. As you can imagine that Advisory has been receiving a great deal of press, particularly in my industry circles. And I know that some of my colleagues would argue that wine in moderation presents some positive health benefits – especially when it comes to cardiovascular disease – as referenced in the recent National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) study. This back and forth is, quite frankly, beyond my understanding. What I do know is that – instead of only considering your one current Advisory on alcohol, I wanted to look at the body of your work as Surgeon General and encourage you to reconsider how you can spend your influence to improve the lives of Americans.

While not dismissing whatsoever your recent Advisory on the relationship between wine and increased cancer risk, I wonder what positive effect it is going to have on the health of Americans? According to a recent Gallup Poll, only 8% of Americans believe that moderate alcohol consumption has a positive effect on their health – the lowest percentage on record. 45% of Americans responded that having one to two drinks a day is bad for their health – the highest percentage on record. If Americans already believe these things, then how much is an additional warning going to help? Perhaps it might somewhat, but as my father used to say, “you are already preaching to the choir.” I do recognize that it is your duty to present the facts as they reveal themselves. But you also must be aware that whether it be tobacco, obesity, or alcohol – certain people are going to choose a different path despite what you recommend. For those people that choose not to abstain, I hope you can acknowledge that wine presents a unique opportunity to combat what you characterize as the greatest threat to American’s health – loneliness.

For millennia, wine has been recognized as a positive factor in bringing people together. It was William Shakespeare who wrote, “Good company, good wine, good welcome can make good people.” Closer to our American roots, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried with fewer tensions and more tolerance.” Due to a temperance movement in this country, Americans have never fully adopted the concept of a bottle of wine on the table with friends in the same way as Europeans. But wine has nonetheless played a seminal part in American’s development – from Thomas Jefferson as vintner to the late President Carter’s declaration that only American wine be served at White House State Dinners. Personally, wine introduced me to my fiancé’ and has played an integral role in many of my friendships and social interactions. Alcohol – and wine – in moderation, as part of a family meal or shared with friends, presents a social lubricant that helps bring people closer. This has been recognized as truth far before the creation of the position of the U.S. Surgeon General and will exist as a truth long afterwards.

So, I’d like to encourage you to take a step out of the expected and reach out to the wine world as a move to helping combat America’s epidemic of loneliness. You can start with any of the major groups that focus on bringing wine and people together: Napa Valley Vintners Association, Sonoma County Vintners, Wine Institute, or Wine Spectator. Or even to me – a small but very vocal Pinot Noir producer. Let’s collaborate on programs that highlight wine in a healthier light – where we bring together family and friends around the table with a bottle of wine. We will work with you on a program promoting responsible “one glass of wine after work with your colleagues” program so that people aren’t going home alone to their empty apartment nor overindulging. We will work together with you to combat loneliness while preserving the spirit that sharing wine has historically embodied.

When you were named Surgeon General, so many of your colleagues came out to praise you. Dr. Andrew Norton, one of your former classmates and now a neurologist in Boston wrote this, “He would often listen quietly to a discussion of a controversial topic. He would wait until the opposing viewpoints were on the table and finally make a critical comment that recognized an understanding of each position, and suggest a thoughtful path to resolution.” I encourage you to do that now as well.

In your Advisory on Loneliness, you discuss how we can combat this epidemic, “Each of us can start now, in our own lives, by strengthening our connections and relationships. Our individual relationships are an untapped resource—a source of healing hiding in plain sight. They can help us live healthier, more productive, and more fulfilled lives. Answer that phone call from a friend. Make time to share a meal. Listen without the distraction of your phone. Perform an act of service. Express yourself authentically. The keys to human connection are simple, but extraordinarily powerful.” – As a winemaker I would add to your list, “share a bottle of wine with friends” This, too, is a way that we can combat this epidemic. Robert Mondavi once said, “wine always inspires sociability.”  Give us the chance as the wine industry, working with you, to prove that to be true and help you fight what you indicate is the greatest threat to America’s health.

Sincerely,

Adam Lee