This morning I read a ranty facebook post which talked about a WHO recommendation that all women of childbearing age be discouraged from drinking due to the potential hazard to a pregnancy.
The person writing was enraged that such a recommendation would be made, citing her right to determine her own drinking, "my body, my choice" etc and finished the post with a photo of herself sipping wine and flipping the bird.
I have googled to try to find out exactly what this person is responding to but I can't find it. WHO is, indeed working on a strategy to reduce alcohol consumption but I can't find any mention of anything so recent or specific.
Ignoring the fact that I can find no such recommendation, would you regard it as a heavy handed piece of advice?
No, I don't think it is a heavy handed recommendation. Try taking a chance on mental retardation if a mother drinks and the child is borne with fetal alcohol syndrome. It does not have to be recent information. I was well aware of this problem in the late 70s. Look up fetal alcohol syndrome.
ReplyDeleteFetal alcohol syndrome is a big problem and under recognised.
DeleteI think the recommendation is ok if we realise it's a suggestion more than a prescription
I did see that article, but cannot remember where. I can remember thinking that it would be hard to enforce. And would force a lot of women to feel guilty. It is a really difficult area. Excess drinking has known problems, but no alcohol for anyone of childbearing age, without consideration of their wish/intent to have children????
ReplyDeleteEC, I agree it lacks nuance and could be guilt inducing at a time when mother guilt is rampant. I want to say that setting the bar high is noble but maybe it's too high
DeleteI vaguely recall this being in the news - crikey, I'm racking my brain now! Fair enough to abstain if a woman, or man come to that, is trying for a baby - but harsh if a woman isn't. I'm going to have a little Google now.
ReplyDeleteSx
I probably should h ave looked at news sites instead of trying to find it on the WHO site.
DeleteIf a woman is pregnant then they should abstain from alcohol and smoking, but if they aren't then I can't see how they can force that. What about women that don't want children, are they meant to give up alcohol too?
ReplyDeleteI think the recommendation is trying to cover the unplanned pregnancies, which make up 50% of babies but yea, it's a very broad demographic targeted
DeleteI have seen too many FAS kids in my day. Alcohol has taken away a normal life for them.
ReplyDeleteI think the latest research is saying that FAS can be triggered by even very small amounts of alcohol.
DeleteHere is one article on it (and the Snopes de-bunking article mentioned in it can be easily Googled as well):
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ctvnews.ca/health/who-action-plan-on-alcohol-sparks-confusion-allegations-of-sexism-1.5477639
But this was not what you asked, so I'll try to answer the question. If this was indeed a WHO recommendation, that's all it would be - a recommendation. People are so easily riled up. Especially people like the Facebook bird-flipping woman, who would rather get angry than do a simple piece of research or, heaven forbid, actually take time to consider their own habits. Our society is partly to blame for that - people are encouraged to drink at every turn. Alcohol IS a drug, and many folks tend to overlook that because it's a legal one.
What you have said here is exactly what I thought (except I'm blunter)
DeleteWHO makes many recommendations and they aren't necessarily well followed but this is the only one that has raised a whole lot of fuss
Bluntness is often required!
DeleteThis is only the WHO's first draft of a recommendation. Maybe that's why you couldn't find it on their website.
People are going to do what they want to do regardless of recommendations. I just wish some of the rants would stop.
ReplyDeleteYes, for a moment I wondered whether there's a point in making recommendations but I do think it's handy for everyone to know whatthe ideal is (not only with this issue but so many others)
DeleteThe WHO never suggested that women of child-bearing age should be forbidden to drink alcohol. "In a statement the WHO says they are not recommending an all-out ban on alcohol in women of child-bearing age". They only say that "appropriate attention" be given to how much alcohol they are drinking, given that they might be pregnant.
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying, Nick. I know they have no power to forbid anything so the whole argument is moot in a way. I
DeleteI am not qualified to comment.
ReplyDeletesmart man!
DeleteThe wine we consume today has a much higher alcohol content than the wine drunk by Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald in Paris in the 1920s.
ReplyDeleteBeer is also much stronger.
As an ex-toper I always advise young women to drink only white wine with soda.
It is sad to see young women who want to go out and get *wasted*.
In my drinking days I drank Scotch with ginger ale, or dark rum with Rose's lime, fresh lime, soda, and lots of ice.
A nutritionist told me, *If you must drink spirits, don't mix them with a sugary drink, because it is all too addictive.*
In an effort to cut down I then drank those strange peaty single malt whiskies, with a little sparkling water. Lagavulin was my favourite.
You don't get the same high when it's just whisky and water, and no beer.
Malt whisky gave me a fondness for the pibroch (the chanter of the bagpipe) which you can hear on YouTube - Lament for the Children.
Now I only drink a little wine, which Saint Paul said is good for the stomach.
My favourite movie is Days of Wine and Roses with Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon.
It has a great theme song. YouTube.
Jack H
*Days of Wine and Roses Opening HD.*
Deletewarnerarchives. YouTube.
Jack
I've always been tee-total, it's part of being a Salvationist. A LOT of people who grow up in The Salvation Army leave because they want to be free to drink but I've lived the lifestyle for so long now and it's saved me a lot of money
DeleteI suspect that it is wise advice. Most responsible women do not drink alcohol during their pregnancies but what about the months when they are trying to get pregnant? That's perhaps when the foetus would be most vulnerable. However, the W.H.O. might be better off focussing on such matters as poverty, housing, clean water supplies and sanitation which all have a massive impact on babies around the world.
ReplyDeleteWHO make recommendations on a very wide range of health related subjects including vaccines, pandemics and childbirth. I'd be surprised if they didn't make any about sanitation, water and housing.
DeleteA whole 50% of babies are unplanned and I think that is the reason they would make a blanket recommendation. having said that, the recommendation wasn't as strongly worded as might have been portrayed