Pregnant women should not be caused “unnecessary worry” by advice on how much alcohol they can drink, Britain’s Public Health Minister has said.
Jane Ellison told the Commons a balance had to be struck between warning about the potential damage to thousands of children during pregnancy and the consideration that around 50 per cent of women may have drunk alcohol before realising they were pregnant.
She added there is no “consistent evidence of adverse effects” of low to moderate prenatal alcohol consumption.
Ellison made the remarks after Labour’s Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) urged her to “clear up the confusion” in the available advice.
Speaking during health question-time, Ellison said a review of the alcohol guidelines by the chief medical officer, professor Dame Sally Davies, will look at the government’s advice on drinking during pregnancy.
The Conservative frontbencher told MPs: “We know that too many women are maybe unaware of the health risks from drinking during pregnancy.”
Consultation on the new guidelines is expected in the autumn, she added.
Esterson then told the Commons: “(I’ll) just remind the House that 7,000 children are damaged every year with irreversible brain damage as a result of alcohol consumed by their mothers during pregnancy.”
Addressing Ellison, he said: “Can I urge you please to clear up the confusion in the advice available to pregnant women at the moment, which on the one hand says don’t drink at all and on the other hand says if you do drink only have one or two units.”
Ellison replied: “I think the message is very clear. We’ve now got that labelling on over 90 per cent of bottles.
“But as you know from the debates we’ve had on this, this is a difficult area, there’s no consistent evidence of adverse effects of low to moderate prenatal alcohol consumption.
“And I’ve talked this through with the chief medical officer – we have to get the balance right between warning women and responding to the very important stats you’ve just mentioned, but not causing unnecessary worry for the around 50 per cent of people who don’t plan their pregnancy and may have drunk before they realised they were pregnant.”