Doctors in a Snit over Rachel Weisz’ Comments
Category: Celebrity Children, Celebrity News, Health, Pregnancy
The latest headline splash is how upset medical specialists are about Rachel Weisz comenting that she thought drinking a glass of wine now and then was okay after the first trimester of pregnancy.
The 35-year-old Oscar winner, who recently gave birth to her first child, was asked in an interview whether she thought a glass of wine was fine. She replied, “Personally I do. They say not in the first three months though, but I think that after that it’s fine. I mean in Europe they drink it, ” she said.
This has sparked a controversy as various media and medical specialists immediately went on a rant.
Dr Raja Mukherjee of St George’s Hospital Medical School in London, a fetal alcohol syndrome specialist, said: “If Rachel Weisz has drunk during her pregnancy and the baby is fine then that’s just pure luck. The problem is that you don’t know who is at risk and who is not. It doesn’t mean that anyone who has drunk alcohol is going to be affected but because we cannot predict, then it is safer to avoid it. There is a risk throughout your whole pregnancy.There is potential harm to the unborn baby’s brain at any point and that is fact.”
Sharon Fleisher, founder of the National Organisation of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, said: “Damage to a foetus can be caused throughout the whole nine months of pregnancy. I think that the comment that she made is dangerous. It is very irresponsible because she is not an expert and she doesn’t know the full effects alcohol can have on an unborn child. She is also wrong about Europe because as of October 2007, France are putting warning labels on all stock in the shops.”
Of course, those of us who are still sane know that this is still 2006, so Rachel is quite 
right, despite Ms Fleisher’s indignation. Even if it were somehow instantly 2007, France is not the whole of Europe.
Even now, current UK guidelines say pregnant women can drink one or two units, the equivalent to one or two small glasses of wine or single measures of spirit, once or twice a week, but those guidelines are being reviewed. Last I heard, the UK was also part of Europe.
A spokesperson for the Royal College of Midwives said: “We don’t take the view that women have to abstain from alcohol altogether. If women feel they can abstain then that has obviously got to be the least risk. But if it is part of your social norm then we don’t feel there is anything wrong with having the odd drink. Everyone is different and we as midwives try to ensure that their pregnancy is manageable for them. There is no set situation for women. Midwives here have experienced some who drink a lot and their children do not develop Foetal Alcohol Syndrome while others have just the one drink and their child develops it. We just want women to accept pregnancy as part of their normal life”.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “We recommend a guideline of one or two units of alcohol once or twice a week, at any stage of pregnancy. The principal outcome from our scientific tests is that for most, there is no adverse effects for low to moderate pre-natal alcohol consumption. Women should stick to these guidelines even if they are trying for a baby.”
So, the tone of the media commentary is a bit shrill, given the official guidelines are just now being modified and Rachel was spekaing only for herself and not making professional medical pronouncements. It is just one more time when the words of a celebrity are given far more weight than they deserve.
Miss Weisz, who won an Oscar last year for her role in The Constant Gardener, lives in New York with her American fiance, Darren Aronofsky, who is also the director of her new movie, The Fountain.
The actress gave birth to their first son, Henry Chance, in May. “Everything he does is funny to me. He’s gorgeous. He really is, but I’m very biased.”
She said she was attempting to perform a “balancing act” between working and spending time with him.
“The good thing about being an actress is that, before he starts school anyway, there is a lot of downtime and there is a lot of time between films too. So he can come hangout.”
Discussing the time-demands of motherhood, she said, “I was seven months pregnant when I won the Academy Award, really, since then, I’ve just been a mom, mainly. It’s the most ultimate honour you can get, I have respect for all working moms out there, because it’s definitely a complicated balancing act, which millions of women are doing all the time. But I’m part of that club now.”
As for how quickly she has shed her pregnancy pounds, Rachel says there is no great secret - “I don’t really have a magic potion or pill, I do Pilates. Nursing burns a lot of calories, 500 calories a day. So, if I could help promote breast-feeding, that would be a good way.”
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Tags: Rachel Weisz
November 16th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
This is so ridiculous and unwarranted, Rachel only said a glass of wine, not a bottle of Scotch. Some people are taking this way too seriously and they are the ones who think they have a right to tell everybody how to live their lives.
November 17th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Exactly. It may be good advice to avoid alcohol during pregnancy, but to go ballistic just because one woman is under the impression that it might be okay to have an occasional glass of wine is just absurd. I suppose the media seeks out these excitable types to get good quotes to sell their papers.
November 17th, 2006 at 10:41 am
I think that Rachel Weisz should keep her big fat yap shut. If she wants to drink while pregnant, and risk having a FAS child, that’s her business. However she shouldn’t be encouraging others to take such foolish risks.