Printed in Great Britain 0735-0414/90 J3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press pic © 1990 Medical Council on Alcoholism WHAT'S THE HARM IN JUST A DRINK?

Abstract — A major characteristic of prenatal alcohol intake is a subsequent birth weight decrement. Experimental animal work has demonstrated that nutritional effects apart, there is a strong, direct alcohol effect responsible for this decrement. Consistency in this effect of birth weight decrement has been demonstrated in a range of species. Early work with animals had equally demonstrated that this effect can be transitory and that catch up is possible. Quite recently, human studies have supported such animal findings to the extent that now we need to question even more strongly our approach required for counselling on alcohol consumption during pregnancy. FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME The effects of alcohol on the offspring, arising from prenatal exposure, have been described as the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). This syndrome, generally attributed to have been first described by Lemoine (1985) (Bierich et al., 1976; Streissguth, 1978), expresses itself i