Boycott Good Morning America

Recently Good Morning America aired a segment called, “Can Pregnant Women Drink Alcohol in Moderation?” Marissa watched this segment with her mouth hanging open. She doesn’t really expect reporters to collect all the facts before they start giving out their opinion, but this story reached a new low. In it an obviously pregnant woman opens a bottle of wine and expresses joy at just hearing the pop. She goes on to “milk” her one glass of wine for all its worth and proudly announces to the world that she does this 4-5 times a week. Afterall, “Anything in moderation.” Right?

Moderate drinking. This seems to be the new buzz word. Just what is moderate drinking? Well, the experts in alcohol and addiction do have a definition. And, what the woman on this segment was doing was not moderate drinking. I will repeat what I have said in the past on this site. A glass of wine is 5 ounces. The super-size wine glass this woman was using and filling all the way to the top held way more than 5 oz. I suspect this woman drinks closer to 10-12 ounces of wine per day. That means she is drinking 8-12 servings of alcohol every week. There are many, many peer-reviewed, published research studies supporting that even this “moderate drinking” during pregnancy is associated with intellectual and behavioral problems. Neurological deficits that become invisible because the child “looks normal.”

I was saddened by the number of commenters to the Good Morning America’s message board who wanted to turn this into a women’s rights issue. As far as I know, none of the agencies advocating for children and adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder support legislation aimed at prosecuting women who drink while pregnant. They simply want to empower women to make wise health care decision by disseminating good information.

From the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: 

ACOG is concerned that this television segment disseminated a potentially dangerous and mixed message to pregnant women. According to ACOG, patients who saw the show are asking their ob-gyns for clarification about whether moderate—or even light—drinking will impact the health of their baby. Therefore, ACOG reiterates its long-standing position that no amount of alcohol consumption can be considered safe during pregnancy. ~ News Release dated February 6, 2008

Okay, I guess ABC News really doesn’t care if someone who doesn’t have a TV boycotts one of their shows. Uh, there is a reason I have left the culture grid and gone no satellite, no cable. It is because I don’t want dumb things transmitted to my brain via brain-less news reports.