>Pregnancy charities and researchers have called for a change to the “alarmist” official Government guidelines, which warn expectant mothers to avoid alcohol completely.
>They say the policy has no basis in evidence and ends up “stigmatising” women and excluding them from society.
>Studies have shown that consistent heavy drinking during pregnancy can result in foetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause physical developmental and learning difficulties.
>However, there is not robust evidence that light to moderate drinking, or even one-off episodes of binge drinking, causes any long-term damage.
>Experts at the University of Kent and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) are claiming that public policy towards pregnant women has “gone down an overtly precautionary route” and that the Government “needs to be honest” about the evidence.
>But last night professional bodies defended the current position.
>Last year the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, was accused of scaremongering when she issued updated formal advice on alcohol consumption for all adults, reducing the recommended weekly intake from 21 to 14 units for men, and advising pregnant women not to touch alcohol at all.
>The previous guidelines had expecting women not avoid alcohol but noted that if they did choose to drink, they could not consume more than 2 units once or twice a week.
>Dr Ellie Lee, Director of the Centre of Parenting Culture Studies at the University of Kent, said the “exclusion of women from an ordinary activity on the basis of a precaution” was “sexist”.
>“Public discourse has become very hostile and there is now an assumption that a pregnant woman holding a glass of wine is doing something absolutely wrong,” she said.
>“Women are being accosted, spoken to and started at in public.
>“People assume that just because you have had one drink you’ve had a bottle of vodka for breakfast.”
