Pregnancy Labels on ALcohol

Pregnancy Warning Labels on Alcohol - now, finally, mandatory

Glen Neal, General Manager Risk Management and Intelligence, Food Standards Australia New Zealand

What were you up to in 1980? I suspect some of you were wrapped up in school homework, studying hard at University or contemplating a career in the food industry. Many of you may not have been around way back then. In 1980, if you happened to be alive and pick up the Sydney Morning Herald you might have read about Dr N. Newman and Professor J. Correy from the University of Tasmania. They had just published some research into the effects of drinking while pregnant and the SMH reported their call for alcohol to be labelled with a warning about the impact on foetal development. The relatively freshly coined term, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, (FASD) Wikipedia suggests, was named by two dysmorphologists in 1973. The branch of medicine once known as dysmorphology is now called teratology – the study of birth defects. I do hope Messrs Newman and Correy are around today to reflect on last month’s Ministerial Forum decision (17 July). In case you missed it, the 10-member Forum (including New Zealand’s Minister O’Connor) voted to mandate pregnancy warning labels on alcohol. Thus ending (hopefully) the rather lumpy, 40 year, public policy journey that this issue has endured. Developing a label that will help reduce the statistic that 25% of Australian and 20% of Kiwi women drink during pregnancy was the job FSANZ was charged with by Ministers in October 2018. Throughout that period we consulted, we researched, we consumer tested, we debated and we briefed. We searched the globe and found zero consistency among the then 11 mandatory pregnancy warning labels. It was a herculean effort that achieved 3 - 5 year's work in 18 months. The approved label will be stark and builds on the voluntary programme that commenced in 2012. The design of the label goes further than anything previously seen in the Code. Allergen labelling is not of the same design as allergic consumers are motivated to search ingredients lists as they already know what is at stake. To be fit for purpose the label must be noticed and be understood. The ambiguity or lack of awareness that exists in the minds of so many must be reversed. There is little evidence that a label alone will change behaviour. The label was designed in the context that it would form part of the suite of FASD reduction measures already in place in New Zealand and Australia. Initiatives such as guidance for those who provide medical advice and health promotion campaigns will put information not only in the hands of those pregnant, or intending to be so, but also those who support them.

First public notice of the dangers of alcohol consumption in pregnancy noted in Sydney Morning Herald c.1980. Repub. SMH 17 July 2020

I am incredibly proud of the volume and quality of the work done by the team over the past 18 months. It has been widely lauded as being of high quality but it was not without adversity and complexity. The resilience and professionalism of the team was humbling in the face of numerous challenges. The crescendo of media coverage in the run up to the Ministerial decision highlighted the polarised views of public health and industry stakeholders. One of the key challenges in food regulation is reconciling (or not) contested stakeholder perspectives. Consensus building is not always possible. Ensuring transparency, having decisions thoroughly grounded in science and evidence and being an independent, statutory authority enables us to get our work done without suffering the impossible problem of having to please everyone. Job Done!