SIRC – Media Watch 09-04-99
The Usual Suspects
Other health issues, currently 'newsworthy' if not stupefying in their conclusions, include a survey of parental attitudes that ranked the dangers of smoking above those of drug taking, possibly a reflection of the publicity awarded to the assessment of their relative risks.
The British Medical Association call for a health warning on alcohol, loosely justified under the guise of saving our young, all in the same week as research by the Royal Maternity Hospital in Belfast concluded that drinking alcohol during pregnancy was more damaging for the foetus than smoking. They recommend doing neither, of course.
