It’s like ‘Russian roulette’

Alarming figures showing almost a quarter of pregnant Kiwi women continue to drink alcohol during their first three months of pregnancy have prompted calls for the Government to take action.

A new study, published in today’s New Zealand Medical Journal, found 23 per cent of women who took part in the Growing Up in New Zealand study continued to drink in their first trimester — when the risk of damage to nerve tissue was the highest — despite knowing they were pregnant. Thirteen per cent continued drinking after the first three months.

The “staggering” figures prompted experts to once again call for the Government to take action to reduce the harm caused by alcohol

In an opinion piece, also in today’s Medical Journal, University of Otago professors Doug Sellman and Jennie Connor compared the harm caused during pregnancy to the Zika virus and questioned why the response was not the same.

The women surveyed had their children between April 2009 and March 2010. There were 6822 pregnant women surveyed.

Up to 3000 New Zealand children are born ever year with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder as a result of their mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

The Ministry of Health said there was no safe level of alcohol consumption while pregnant.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Care Action Network chairwoman Claire Gyde said the results of the study were “staggeringly high”.

“To knowingly have a drink and know that you’re pregnant is just Russian roulette really,” she said. “It causes permanent brain damage.”

Symptoms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder included intellectual disabilities, being impulsive and easily distracted, poor memory, socially inappropriate behaviour, language difficulties and poor planning and organisational capabilities.

Gyde said those issues often led to trouble at school and with the law, addiction and employment issues.

Alcohol Healthwatch fetal alcohol spectrum disorder project coordinator Christine Rogan said while the data used in the study was eight years old, other figures suggested the problem was getting worse.

More recent figures showed more women were drinking and the number binge drinking was also increasing. “We know that pre-pregnancy drinking is quite predictive of what happens after conception,” Rogan said.

Friends, family, colleagues and online sites were often responsible for telling women a small amount of alcohol would do no harm but New Zealand’s drinking culture, social pressure to drink and the amount of advertising were the biggest issues,

Rogan said. She said the Government needed to be taking steps to increase awareness of the issue as well as regulating the marketing of alcohol and raising the price.

One of the study’s authors, Auckland University Centre for Addiction Research senior lecturer Dr David Newcombe, agreed Government involvement was needed.

“We have very cheap alcohol. It’s very accessible. Some of those issues need to be addressed,” he said.

In their editorial, Sellman and Connor described the disorder as a “preventable tragedy” and said drinking also increased the risk of still birth, cot death and breast cancer.

They called on the Government to change rules around the advertising, price and availability of alcohol.

The most important guide for the Government was the Law Commission’s 2010 report on curbing the

We have very cheap alcohol. It’s very accessible. Dr David Newcombe

harm from alcohol, they said.

At the time Labour criticised the Government for tinkering rather than making substantial changes, but current Health Minister David Clark said while the data was concerning, there were no proposals for legislative change in the area.

“Many of the Law Commission’s recommendations have already been implemented . . .” he said.

He said the Don’t Know? Don’t Drink campaign had reached many and had been supported by the development of resources for health professionals to use.