"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Study: No alcohol intake safe during pregnancy
When I see something like this, there's a lot that comes to my mind. First, in practical terms, this is more about a sue happy public. If somebody asks how many drinks are acceptable during pregnancy, and consumes less than that, then has a problem with the baby, there's a court case. Second, it is clearly a lie, because people have been drinking during pregnancy since alcohol came into being . Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is pretty rare, and with its distinctive facial features, we should have been hearing about it for centuries. However, I also wonder about the eras when alcohol was a standard beverage, like the Medieval Era. Is that why the surfs allowed oppression, they didn't have the mental ability to conceive of freedom because their mothers drank? Ah, but then we have the Colonial Era here, and the lead up to the Revolutionary War. And, odds are, judging from the culture of the time, the mothers of the political thinkers of the era drank. Drinking and drunkenness are two different things, and I think habitual drunkenness after pregnancy is far more destructive than habitual drinking during pregnancy could ever be. So much to think about with a topic like this, which is why it interests me.
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Anecdotal accounts of prohibitions against maternal alcohol use from Biblical, ancient Greek, and ancient Roman sources imply a historical awareness of links between maternal alcohol use and negative child outcomes. [31]
[31] Jones, K.L., & Smith, D.W. (1973). Recognition of the fetal alcohol syndrome in early infancy. Lancet, 2, 999–1001. PMID 4127281
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_syndrome#Historical_references