CDC recommends that all sexually active women refrain from drinking if they are not on the birth control pill.
BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Usually the CDC’s recommendation are meant to prevent a whole legion of disease. Much are them are based on common sense, if you think about it, and there’s CDC’s latest recommendation which managed to upset quite a lot of women. The misleading recommendation from CDC enrages women because the new guidelines are suspiciously thin.
Basically, the CDC’s recommendation boils down to one single sentence: no birth control pill, then no booze. That seems abrupt even for a fine institution like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, there’s no fine print to this, only the fact that all fertile women, regardless of age, race or intent are to refrain from drinking if they want to get pregnant someday.
According to the CDC, there is a good reason why women shouldn’t drink alcohol. In their vision, it would seem that women who are either trying to get pregnant or are sexually active should refrain from consuming alcohol if they are not using a birth control pill. Doing otherwise will result in something called the fetal alcohol syndrome.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is another fancy term used to designate a condition that may impact the appearance of a child if his or hers mother drank heavily during the pregnancy. According to the panel of factors, it would seem that children may end up with this syndrome if their mothers were married with the bottle during pregnancy or they’ve added a little cigarette on the side.
Children born with this syndrome may have short heads, feet, and hands. Furthermore, latest research has shown that they are incapable of maintaining their balance and they have poor coordination. And as the years go by, the child will display signs of low intelligence, and will also develop sight and hearing issues.
All of these symptoms sound pretty grim indeed. But it is basically common sense to abstain from drinking and smoking during pregnancy. And then CDC comes along with the ride, telling us that it’s not even remotely ok to drink if you’re not on the pill, regardless of you intention of becoming pregnant.
Doctor Allison Rodgers, a fertility expert, working for a clinic in IIlinois explained why the misleading recommendation from the CDC enrages women. As the doctor points out, alcohol is as dangerous during pregnancy as rubella. And, in the end, it’s common sense not to sip too much wine while you are pregnant.
Moreover, the doctor also pointed out that more than half of the pregnancies out there are unplanned. And the CDC’s recommendation seems a bit awkward if we take into account the spontaneity factor and our individual decision.
It remains to be seen if the CDC comes out with any clarification regarding the newly-released guidelines.
Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org
