The government should introduce mandatory alcohol health labelling that includes warnings about drinking during pregnancy, says the North East alcohol programme Balance. The call has been made as part of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Month.
A survey of almost 1,400 people carried out by Balance earlier this year found that more than three quarters would support labels on alcohol products to warn of the risks associated with drinking while pregnant or trying to conceive. Drinking during pregnancy can lead to FASD when alcohol in the mother’s blood passes to the baby through the placenta. FASD, which is estimated to affect around 3.6 per cent of the UK’s population, can cause a range of learning difficulties and behavioural problems, as well as damage to muscles, bones and organs.
The government’s ten-year health plan for England, which has been criticised by health campaigners for its perceived watering down of policies to tackle alcohol harm, does contain plans to introduce new measures for alcohol labelling including health warnings. While some alcohol products do currently carry warnings about drinking while pregnant they are ‘often small, and smaller on products more commonly drunk by women’, says Balance, with no statutory requirement on alcohol companies to include any health information on their labelling.
Ireland became the first country to commit to mandatory health labelling, as part of its Public Health (Alcohol) Act in 2018. However the introduction has been delayed until at least 2028, which campaigners say is the result of industry lobbying.
‘Alcohol in pregnancy can cause lifelong harm, yet this issue does not receive the attention it deserves,’ said FASD specialist at NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, Dr Helen Howlett. ‘Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is the most common cause of non-genetic learning disability in the UK. It is more prevalent than autism, yet very few children and young people with FASD are identified, diagnosed, or supported, and many people just aren’t aware of it. The fact is that binge drinking is highest in women of childbearing age, so we need a clear message to warn women of the risks of harm in pregnancy and so that women are aware of the guidance to avoid alcohol altogether if they are pregnant or trying to conceive.’