Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 September 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Babies Born to Mothers with Substance Abuse Issues: Discussion

9:30 am

Dr. Adrienne Foran:

No. People are very clear that even one drink is probably one drink too many. However, it is socially acceptable to have one or two and nobody knows if that is safe. All women know what is right to do when they are pregnant. If one asks a woman who smokes how many cigarettes she smokes a day, she will say five to ten. We tell medical students she means 20. It is the same when one asks how many drinks people take a week. When people fill in their health insurance forms, nobody writes down exactly what they do. It is human nature that we do not want to be exposed. Pregnant women will be protective of their babies. The only way we will know what the true instance is by getting the data.

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