The British government’s top doctors have issued a warning to pregnant women not to drink any alcohol, but they admit there is no scientific evidence behind that warning.  Just their gut feeling dressed up as sound medical counsel, apparently.

Women who are pregnant or trying for a baby should stop drinking alcohol altogether, the Government’s leading doctors give warning today.

The new advice radically revises existing guidelines, which say that women can drink up to two units once or twice a week. Fiona Adshead, the deputy chief medical officer, said that the change was meant to send “a strong signal” to the thousands of women who drank more than the recommended limit that they were putting their babies at risk. But she admitted that it was not in response to any new medical evidence.

Does the deputy chief medical officer think that misrepresenting the state of accepted medical evidence is a means of sending a “strong signal”?  Seems to me more likely to undermine the doctors’ credibility.  So much for medical “science”.

However, it emerged yesterday that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists intended to stick with its advice that moderate drinking was perfectly safe, which could leave many pregnant women confused.

I feel sorry for British women who are pregnant or trying to conceive.