Fetal alcohol syndrome: the origins of a moral panic

Alcohol Alcohol. 2000 May-Jun;35(3):276-82. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/35.3.276.

Abstract

Since its discovery almost 30 years ago, the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) has been characterized in the USA, as a major threat to public health. In part because FAS resonated with broader social concerns in the 1970s and 1980s about alcohol's deleterious effect on American society and about a perceived increase in child abuse and neglect, it quickly achieved prominence as a social problem. In this paper, we demonstrate that, as concern about this social problem escalated beyond the level warranted by the existing evidence, FAS took on the status of a moral panic. Through examples taken from both the biomedical literature and the media about drinking during pregnancy, we illustrate the evolution of this development, and we describe its implications, particularly how it has contributed to a vapid public policy response.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / prevention & control
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Morals*
  • Panic*
  • Pregnancy
  • Public Opinion*
  • Social Problems / prevention & control
  • Social Problems / psychology