Amanda, a Gold Coast resident, discovered she was four months pregnant while regularly consuming wine. Her doctor initially downplayed her concerns regarding alcohol use during pregnancy. Years later, her daughter was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) at age seven. Amanda now advocates for greater awareness of drinking during pregnancy, emphasizing FASD as lifelong brain damage and calling for alcohol products to carry warning labels similar to cigarettes.
Risks and Current Compliance
The National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (NOFASD) states there is no safe amount or time to consume alcohol during pregnancy. Despite this, national data indicates over one in four Australian women drink during pregnancy, and approximately 13 percent believe small amounts are harmless. Around 50 percent of Australian pregnancies are unplanned, meaning some women may consume alcohol before realizing they are pregnant.
Advocacy groups, including NOFASD, have lobbied for mandatory pregnancy warning labels on all alcohol products for over two decades. In 2020, the federal government set a three-year deadline for new products to include these warnings. However, products packaged before August 2023 are exempt from this mandate.
Ongoing Concerns and Enforcement Challenges
Recent research from The George Institute for Global Health indicates that more than 20 percent of approximately 12,500 alcohol products analyzed in 2023 and 2024 still lack the mandatory pregnancy warning label. Simone Pettigrew, head of health promotion at the institute, attributed this to a lack of motivation within the alcohol industry.
Geraldine Kirkcaldie, who consumed alcohol throughout a previous pregnancy due to addiction, supports clear warnings, stating they remove doubt and prevent individuals from minimizing potential health risks. Alistair Coe of Alcohol Beverages Australia noted that the absence of warnings on some products is expected due to the August 2023 mandate applying only to newly packaged items. He anticipates nearly 100 percent compliance as older stock is replaced. However, Professor Pettigrew expressed concern that the "old stock" clause creates a loophole, making compliance assessment difficult.
Visibility and Future Requirements
The study also found that 14 percent of products featured voluntary warning labels, which Professor Pettigrew described as "largely ineffectual" due to their low visibility. Only 1 percent of assessed products displayed the warning on the front of the packaging.
NOFASD chief executive Sophie Harrington and Amanda advocate for mandated front-of-packaging warnings and for warning stickers to be applied to all unlabelled products, regardless of their packaging date. They argue it is essential to inform consumers about the potential for brain damage in babies caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy.