Yikes, this is beer news that DEFINITELY got our attention….

Here’s what we know…

Scientists in the UK are pointing to asbestos laced beer as a possible reason for a fourfold rise in cancer of the gullet, the sometimes 10 inch tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach.

Researchers from the Cambridge and Liverpool now believe that beer which was filtered through asbestos might be responsible for an enormous increase in gullet cancer (also known as esophageal cancer) in the United Kingdom.

Vintage Johns Manville asbestos advertisement

Back in 1970’s, many UK breweries used asbestos with cotton filters to screen out microorganisms that might harm the beer’s quality…a practice that went on for nearly a decade.

When those filters aged, deadly particles became loosened and may have made their way into much of the nation’s beer.

Dr. Jonathan Rhodes, from the University of Liverpool, explained to The Sun: ‘Asbestos from beer consumed before around 1980 seems a plausible factor.’

Some pubs even added asbestos to left-over beer to remove impurities and make beer ready to serve again, according to The Daily Mail, adding a second shot of asbestos to the already poisoned brew.

The 14th most common cancer in the United Kingdom, there are 25 new cases of esophageal cancer detected daily according to Cancer Research UK.

90 percent of this rise in esophageal cancer is occurring in men.

And now there’s a growing concern that asbestos laced beer might be one reason for the deadly cancer’s escalating numbers…