Waxing and waning on warnings

By Guest Columnist Christine Rogan, Health Promotion Advisor for Alcohol Healthwatch who has advocated for alcohol health advisory statements for pregnant women since 1996.

The other day I came across a premix vodka beverage with an alcohol content of 7% that was sporting a health advisory statement which said, “NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN, PREGNANT OR LACTATING WOMEN AND INDIVIDUALS SENSITIVE TO CAFFEINE.  Caffeine?  The message about the significant risk that alcohol posed to such consumers was simply absent.

How could such a situation come about?  In 2001, the Food Standards Australia New Zealand or FSANZ mandated what it called “rigorous labelling” for caffeinated drinks.  A FSANZ spokesperson interviewed at the time by the New Zealand Herald (01/08/01) said, “We are sure that this will protect the health and safety of people who drink these products”.  There had at that point been three deaths linked internationally to the consumption of caffeinated drinks, two ironically where the caffeine had been mixed with alcohol. 

Despite the fact no caffeine-associated deaths to my knowledge were reported in New Zealand and Australia, FSANZ moved quickly to regulate with this health warning.  However, just one year prior, the food standards organisation, summarily dismissed such a move for alcohol, an altogether more significant and proven risk to human health.  Why?  Among the number of questionable arguments put forward at that time, was that a health warnings on alcohol containers would be ineffective at achieving desirable behaviour change and could even increase undesirable behaviour in some ‘at risk’ groups. 

Why then would a health warning label be effective for caffeine one year hence?  There is no rational explanation as to why a level of proof of effectiveness should be so different for alcohol. 

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December 15 2007 | Alcohol and Pregnancy | 1 Comment »

The Bartender

Earlier this year the New Zealand Herald reported the case of an Auckland bartender who questioned whether a mother-to-be should be drinking.

The woman who was not named said she was “accosted” and repeatedly questioned about her choice when she ordered a low-alcohol beer. She thought it “patronising and rude”.She is reported as saying “The barman asked me whether I was sure I wanted to have an alcoholic drink, then pointed at my stomach,” she said. “I was fuming.”The woman said she drank light beer and wine during her previous pregnancy, as her four sisters had during theirs. She said she had “glares from people in the past and it does seem that while you have this huge stomach and you are waddling around, everyone has something to say about it, but nothing like this. This was incredibly insulting.”

Was the bartender right to raise the issue?

This article was first published in the December 2007 edition of alcohol.org.nz.

December 15 2007 | Alcohol and Pregnancy | 8 Comments »