Love the headline

Fairfax: Foetuses abused in the womb - study

You might be tempted to think that this story is about the ultimate in foetal abuse - abortion.

But it isn't - it is about drinking during pregnancy.

Now there is a condition Foetal Alcohol Syndrome which may be a result of heavy drinking in pregnancy.

But this story is about an epidemic to come "foetal alcohol spectrum disorder" whose rates are set to "soar!"

Now here is the rub my friends, a child born of an alcoholic mother does not get a good start in life, through many of the lifestyle options of that mother - it is not necessarily the alcohol per se that is at fault - indeed I would suggest that alcohol abuse is in itself a symptom of far deeper problems the mother has. But "foetal alcohol spectrum disorder" assigns any difficulty, mental or physical, experienced by a child of a mother who drinks to exposure to alcohol in the womb - with little or no evidence to support that contention.

And so the handwringers zero in on their obsession - alcohol and put all the childs problems down to    C₂H₅OH, exposure in the womb to a single molecule of which will damage the growing baby by their reading of it.

And try and convince that the woman who has a glass of wine with her meal is in some way harming her unborn child.