to think this new advice to pregnant women is ridiculous

[ArtemisatBrauron]

ok, so apparently due to a "small and unmeasurable" and completely unspecified "risk", pregnant women are not allowed to eat any food wrapped in plastic (that would be almost everything then, most supermarkets even wrap fresh fruit and veg in plastic), use cosmetics or moisturiser, or travel in new cars, purchase new furniture etc.

Considering that most baby bottles are plastic and you can get baby food in plastic pouches etc this strikes me as waaaay over-protective.

Opinions?

Astonishingly unhelpful coverage.

"It is unlikely that any of the exposures are truly harmful for most babies, say the report's authors, and, based on current evidence, it is impossible to give an accurate assessment of risk"

So what exactly is RCOG saying? "There might be some risks, we don't know, we haven't researched it properly. But be afraid anyway."

And RCOG haven't put the press release on their news page so we can't even refer to the original Helpful.

Well I'm fecked then. 28+6 and earig all these thugs, still having showers and (god forbid) painting my nails. Meh. What a bunch of badly stated and researched arse.

Erm. Eating all these things. Ahem.

I'm pregnant nad not worried. This is bloody ridiculous. No identification of the 'chemicals' involved, no quantification of the risk. Fucking stupid.

Utter madness! I'm 32+1 and true to strike the balance between being cautious and the hysterical paranoia this kind of article stirs up!
The BBC article went on to say the report was aimed at HCP'S to advise mothers in Ante-Natal classes. So in the third trimester. i.e. way too fucking late if there is anything in this research.

Like PP's have said, surely the key is to reduce packaging and legislate to stop companies including dangerous (levels of) chemicals in products.

I'm now off to batten down the hatches against the pregnancy police who seem intent to lock me in a (BPA FREE) padded cell for the duration...

See it's true - the plastic has affected your spelling

I'm really cross about this. I've got to go to work now and could have done without the crying fit I've just had out of misplaced guilt. Dd2 is fine. Heaven help all the people who've heard this on the news this morning whilst looking after children born with serious problems. Problems that are NOT the fault of the mother - but you blame yourself anyway because who else is there?

I'm getting increasingly angry too. There is no evidence

FFS.

Just another big stick to beat women with. Unbelievable that these (non) findings have been released with so little substance behind them. No doubt the media who are hysterical at the best of times will report this in a nice unhelpful manner too.

Following this kind of advice makes no more sense than never crossing roads in case you get hit by a car.

One of my children is severely autistic. This stuff is very painful to read, although I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wildly different during my other two pregnancies.

Just don't fucking need this

Is this the result of measuring the quality of research using "research impact". There is probably a reasonably sensible journal article behind all of this but researchers are being increasingly encouraged to tout their research to the media and to "impact" on the thinking of end-users (in this case hcp).

It's completely counter-productive, because women will look at it, think, "I can't avoid all those things, it's ridiculous" and end up ignoring the bits of good advice. We know now that it's really important not to smoke and drink during pregnancy because both those things have an effect on the baby. Much better if they'd focused on those two and left the rest.

a) practically every substance you encounter is 'a chemical'. There was a really interesting chap on The Life Scientific a few weeks back raging about how 'chemicals' are seen as 'nasty' whereas, of course, most compound substances are 'chemicals'.

b) if women shouldn't be exposed to 'chemicals' regularly, has anyone done any real research on the long-term (i.e., over 20-30 years) effects of being on something like the Mirena or mini-pill? Cos that's a 'chemical' lots of women have in their bodies before pregnancy for years and years, but GPs seem quite happy to push it. I'd have thought that type of long-term exposure was also worth investigating.

c)........How ridiculous! to pregnant posters - enjoy the sunshine and ignore......

No evidence moderate drinking has an effect on the foetus, afaik.

Not that evidence is considered important when issuing advice to pregnant women.

This makes me angry, I feel guilty, and worse, it will encourage the mupppets who blame women for problems.

It's bad enough that the list of proscribed food/medication isn't risk based - it's all lumped together as 'bad' from 'caused some worrying results in a study of 12 pregnant rats that was conducted 20 years ago' or '1 in 100000 chance of salmonella poisoning' to '100% known to cause horrible birth defects' or 'is an abortifacient'. Which means no one can make any kind of sensible informed decisions. We're pregnant, we're not idiots. And now they're adding chemicals in a similar vein.

This. The advice causes anxiety and it should be made clear whether it is actually important by giving risk factors.

Where I live we are issued with the NHS info at our booking in appointments, at close to 14 weeks. So we google for advice in early pregnancy.

*Hackmum: "It's completely counter-productive, because women will look at it, think, "I can't avoid all those things, it's ridiculous" and end up ignoring the bits of good advice"

That is an excellent point.

I seriously feel sorry for pregnant women these days. I am glad I had mine 24 years ago when the advice was.
If you smoke, try to cut down a bit and dont drink too much.Oh and liver and spinach is good for your blood.
I happily munched pate, liver, ate lovely runny dippy eggs for breakfast without a care in the world.

It feels like being pregnant these days is an endless nightmare of what you can't do.

I hate, hate, hate that everything is so over packaged and covered in plastic. Can imagine it might have long term effects on humans, to say nothing of the environment. We need research into it but we also need the manufacturers to be looking at this issue or rethinking how we shop. It shouldn't be directed at pregnant women though as there is nothing they can really do as it is bloody everywhere.

I don't see how this is news. All this was known when I was pregnant 15 years ago. I don't see how pregnant women can avoid plastic food containers, wrapping and tinned food. Food manufacturers should be forced to make food safer rather than everyone be expected to sort this out individually. Do hospitals not use any food wrapped in plastic or that comes in a tin?

Why did the RCOG choose to scaremonger publicise in this way - via the bbc?

How do they imagine this will be taught 'in antenatal classes' to women in their third trimester, some with complicated pregnancies without causing distress?

Surely those involved have considered the ethics

If these are real risks to be avoided it is an issue for the whole of society, not just pregnant women. It does concern health outcomes for the entire human race, after all. I do dislike how the entire onus is put on women to deal with these things.

If the risk is enough to merit a warning then ban plastic packaging, withdraw the chemicals, promote alternatives with tax breaks for producers, whatever. Instead we get bossy messages that fuel the attitude a pregnant women is more incubator than person and it is solely her responsibility to navigate this stuff.

This scares those who are pregnant, upsets those whose children have been born with medical conditions and makes a mockery of the genuine health concerns in pregnancy that can end up being dismissed as yet more nonsense. Dangerous and irresponsible.

If I avoided all that stuff my house would be a tip, I would smell bad and would be seriously malnourished. What's more likely to damage my health and that of my unborn baby? If there are toxic substances in everyday items then they should be removed for all people, not just used as another stick to beat mothers with.

DC2 is due in 12 days. I have never been so glad that this will be my last pregnancy. These 'scientific' reports issued by agencies who really ought to know better need closer scrutiny before publication. Have we learned nothing from the MMR debacle?

Cleaning products have some very nasty chemicals in them.
Dw tablets, washing powder and fabric conditioner are very bad for us. Air fresheners and sprays will be the next health scare.

It's good to highlight all of this as it might make people use less chemicals in their home. I think people just need to bear in mind modeation.

All I want to know about is significant risks that can be avoided.

So, ok - smoking, too much alcohol, some drugs, listeria/salmonella risks - fine.

Plastic? Shampoo? Things that might possibly could be a risk but are almost impossible to avoid? Why tell me

Google risks of fabric conditioner or dishwasher tablets. It might be decades before they can prove the risks. It's easy to avoid cleaning whilst pregnant.

Moving away from using toxic chemicals and using white vingegar or bicarb or steam, would be better for everyone.