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Booze and pregnancy warnings 'misleading'
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/9845595/booze-and-pregnancy-warnings-misleading/
July 15, 2011
The alcohol industry has had to review its health warnings for pregnant women only days after they were unveiled after a Perth expert on foetal-alcohol syndrome complained about the warnings.
Dr Carol Bower, from the Telethon Child Health Research Institute, and Sydney University's professor of paediatrics and child health Elizabeth Elliott told DrinkWise the voluntary warnings on alcohol and the group's website played down the seriousness of alcohol harm during pregnancy.
They said the advice was ambiguous and misleading, particularly to suggest foetal alcohol syndrome was not a big problem in Australia except for Aboriginal women.
Dr Bower said researchers wanted to send a clear message that women should not drink alcohol when pregnant.
"We want the information to be correct and more complete because the suggestion is you have to drink a lot for it to be problem and it's an indigenous issue," she said. "There is also no explanation of what foetal alcohol syndrome disorder actually is or the effects."
DrinkWise chairwoman Trish Worth agreed to change the group's fact sheet but defended the label warnings as based on current advice.
She said the group consulted the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists because it was a sensitive issue, particularly for women who drank alcohol before they realised they were pregnant.
"Listing all the things that can happen if you consume alcohol needs to be carefully thought through because it may have unintended consequences, including terminations by the 'worried' well," she said.
But Ms Worth said she was happy to review the warnings and would provide a link from the DrinkWise website to the Telethon Institute's website on foetal alcohol syndrome.
McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth director Mike Daube said it was disturbing the alcohol industry's messages had generated criticism from health experts.
Dr Carol Bower, from the Telethon Child Health Research Institute, and Sydney University's professor of paediatrics and child health Elizabeth Elliott told DrinkWise the voluntary warnings on alcohol and the group's website played down the seriousness of alcohol harm during pregnancy.
They said the advice was ambiguous and misleading, particularly to suggest foetal alcohol syndrome was not a big problem in Australia except for Aboriginal women.
Dr Bower said researchers wanted to send a clear message that women should not drink alcohol when pregnant.
"We want the information to be correct and more complete because the suggestion is you have to drink a lot for it to be problem and it's an indigenous issue," she said. "There is also no explanation of what foetal alcohol syndrome disorder actually is or the effects."
DrinkWise chairwoman Trish Worth agreed to change the group's fact sheet but defended the label warnings as based on current advice.
She said the group consulted the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists because it was a sensitive issue, particularly for women who drank alcohol before they realised they were pregnant.
"Listing all the things that can happen if you consume alcohol needs to be carefully thought through because it may have unintended consequences, including terminations by the 'worried' well," she said.
But Ms Worth said she was happy to review the warnings and would provide a link from the DrinkWise website to the Telethon Institute's website on foetal alcohol syndrome.
McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth director Mike Daube said it was disturbing the alcohol industry's messages had generated criticism from health experts.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/9845595/booze-and-pregnancy-warnings-misleading/