Dr. Charles S. Lieber dies at 78; researcher demonstrated that alcohol is a liver toxin
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 02:21
in Health & Medicine
Lieber showed that excessive drinking could change metabolism in the liver to convert a number of normally harmless chemicals, including acetaminophen, into toxins. Dr. Charles S. Lieber, who overturned conventional wisdom by demonstrating that alcohol is a toxin that can damage the liver and that alcoholism is a disease that can be treated, died March 1 at his home in Tenafly, N.J. He was 78 and had been battling stomach cancer.