La. Kaskutas, INTERPRETATIONS OF RISK - THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC-INFORMATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALCOHOL WARNING LABEL POLICY, International journal of the addictions, 30(12), 1995, pp. 1519-1548
In 1988 the US Congress passed a law requiring a health warning label
on alcoholic beverage containers, to include the message that pregnant
women should not drink alcohol. This paper addresses the role that sc
ientific knowledge played in the formation and passage of the alcohol
warning label policy. The constellation of birth defects implicated in
the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) (including fetal alcohol effects) is
sketched, and the FAS-related legislative events leading to the law's
passage are described. A synopsis of the state of knowledge in 1988 r
egarding the effects of alcohol on the fetus is presented, and a snaps
hot of the social climate at that time is offered. The paper concludes
with an update of relevant FAS research since the legislation was pas
sed, and considers implications for future research and policy in the
prevention of FAS.