Advising pregnant women against drinking is “ethically dubious”

According to Dr. Colin Gavaghan of the School of Law at Glasgow University there is no clear-cut evidence linking the moderate consumption of alcohol and the harm to fetus.

Doctors' advice on the issue is paternalistic, he said, adding that it could be damaging in the long-term as the public loses faith in their expertise.

Despite insufficient evidence on the issue, United Kingdom government officials, in 2007, recommended that women completely give up on alcoholic beverages during pregnancy.

That sparked a controversy because, while excessive drinking in pregnancy could definitely be detrimental to a developing fetus and may result in fetal alcohol syndrome; the harms of light or moderate drinking during pregnancy have yet to be confirmed.

Last year U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence reported that one or two drinks a week hardly posed any threat to pregnant women or their fetus.

Dr. Gavaghan is concerned that the public may stop giving importance to the advice of doctors if it realizes that they tend to exaggerate. “If they are seen to be exaggerating risks that recent and well publicized studies have shown to be negligible, their advice on genuine risks will carry less authority,” he said.

Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Dr Gavaghan pointed that a University of London research reveals that light consumption of alcohol, even during pregnancy, is not harmful to the fetus.

Infact, it said, the children of mothers who took a few drinks during pregnancy had fewer behavioral or developmental problems than those whose mothers abstained completely.

Abstinence, in most cases, is advised because of the fears of overindulgence at the slightest hint of benefits but Dr. Gavaghan feels it is not right.

"To continue preaching total abstinence because of a fear that women will misunderstand the truth, or regard a reassuring message about low-level consumption as a 'green light' for unrestrained overindulgence, is patronizing and paternalistic to a degree that is hard to reconcile with any real respect for autonomy and informed decision-making,” he said.