Blah Blah Blah Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Blah Blah
Blair Campbell writes a nice piece for the East Bay Express about drinking wine while pregnant:
From the moment I got the definitive “you’re pregnant” on New Year’s Day 2009 (causing me to ruefully ditch my Bloody Mary), the question of whether and how much I could drink was the background noise I heard for the next eight months. What follows is an account of life in the rabbit hole.
There’s so much conflicting information out there that Campbell is driven to distraction. The heart of the problem is the American belief that there is such a thing as a risk-free society and the impossibility of proving a negative, as illustrated in this paragraph:
My doctor had said that sips were okay, but that until I hit my fourteenth week of pregnancy, a full glass was inadvisable. After that? There’s no amount known to be safe, she’d said, but if it were herpregnancy, she’d probably have one glass of wine a month.
“No amount known to be safe” could be said about, basically, anything.
Anyway, read the piece. It takes Campbell most of her pregnancy to reach a common sense conclusion.
UPDATE: Per the discussion in comments about people’s ability to rationally assess levels of risk: this clipping from a Virginia newspaper.
September 28th, 2010 at 9:16 AM
Nice article. Wise conclusion.
September 28th, 2010 at 9:47 AM
Wow. You’re really on your best behavior.
September 28th, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Uh-huh. Not gonna bite.
September 28th, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Regarding alcohol during pregnancy: Humans are supposed to be good at factoring the risk vs reward equation. In this case, the risk is small but the downside (a bad effect on the fetus) is large. The reward is small- a buzz and some hopefully tasty flavors on the palate. Game theory would suggest that risking a huge downside for a small reward is a loser’s strategy. I’m never going to get pregnant. And other than telling you what and how to write, I don’t make a habit of telling other people how to live their lives. I’m just saying the odds suck. If you look at the demographics of fetal alcohol syndrome, teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy show up often. These are not corollary, only indicators that the women involved are good at making bad decisions.
September 28th, 2010 at 12:59 PM
People are notably bad at measuring risk; it’s why we’re afraid to fly but think nothing of riding in automobiles. It’s why we build coal plants instead of nuclear plants. It’s why we will give up our freedoms for fear of terrorism and then neglect to get our flu shots.
September 29th, 2010 at 10:28 AM
must… resist… urge to… write something… INAPPROPRIATE!!!….arrrgghhhhh…….
September 29th, 2010 at 1:13 PM
How did I miss this one?
My recollection is that the stats on fetal alc syndrome point mainly to women who drink (and other things) to excess as well as unwed and the immature.
I always think of my mother when this subject comes up: ten children, wine every day, no syndrome in any of us–and the last one of her children is soooo smart that I am like an endorsement to drink during pregnancy
September 29th, 2010 at 2:14 PM
I grew up in an extended family of close friends of my parents who were referred to as aunts and uncles — even though they weren’t. There’s a great picture of my mother and three other “aunts,” all pregnant and in hokey 1950s bathing suits, sitting in lawns chairs with martinis in one hand and cigarettes in the other.
Which actually might explain a lot, now that I think of it.