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Mary Schneider Quiz time! How much alcohol should a pregnant woman drink? If you answered, "None, zero, zip, nada," go to the head of the class. If you answered, "The question of whether it is a problem to take a few drinks during a pregnancy has not been addressed at all," then you need to go back and do some very basic reading or get some remedial reading lessons. You can't understand the U.S. government's statement: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Here Are Some Questions You May Have About Alcohol and Drinking While You Are Pregnant. 1. Can I drink alcohol if I am pregnant?
No. Do not drink alcohol when you are pregnant. Why? Because when you drink alcohol, so does your baby. Think about it. Everything you drink, your baby also drinks.
2. Is any kind of alcohol safe to drink during pregnancy?
No. Drinking any kind of alcohol when you are pregnant can hurt your baby. Alcoholic drinks are beer, wine, wine coolers, liquor, or mixed drinks. A glass of wine, a can of beer, and a mixed drink all have about the same amount of alcohol.
3. What if I drank during my last pregnancy and my baby was fine?
Every pregnancy is different. Drinking alcohol may hurt one baby more than another. You could have one child that is born healthy, and another child that is born with problems.
4. Will these problems go away?
No. These problems will last for a child's whole life. People with severe problems may not be able to take care of themselves as adults. They may never be able to work. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Ok. That seems pretty straightforward and scary enough. So what are we to make of the claim: "The question of whether it is a problem to take a few drinks during a pregnancy has not been addressed at all."? The person who said this was defending Mary Schneider's research. He just about had to say something in her defense since he chairs the committee that approves her experiments. Mary exposes pregant monkeys to alcohol, and then tracks the development of their offspring over time. She has reported on many occasions that alcohol disrupts normal fetal development and that this has harmful long term consequences. Let's look at Mary's history of monkey experiment publications: 1988 Behavioral effects of developmental lead exposure in rhesus monkeys. It's pretty understandable why Mary continues to study prenatal alcohol exposure, she bought a lakeside home recently and the mortgage is pretty high. And, it's pretty clear why the university defends her research, 2005: Schneider, Mary Lynn 5R01AA012277-05 2004: Schneider, Mary Lynn 5R01AA010079-09 2003: Schneider, Mary L R01AA010079-08 2002: Schneider, Mary L 5R01AA010079-07 Schneider, Mary L 1R01AA012277-01A2 Five-year total: $3,375,152 Given that the university skims a little over 40% off the top, about $1.3 million, we don't have to scratch out heads too hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for the administration's defense of her redundant observations that pregnant women should'n't drink or her redundant demonstrations that pregant monkeys shouldn't either. For a taste of the extent to which the UW spin doctors will go to defend this sort of nonsense, check out some not-news about Mary's work.
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