http://goo.gl/trU27S
"Alcohol is not essential to the health or well being of a pregnant woman and is known to be harmful to her baby," argue Mary Mather, a retired paediatrician, and Kate Wiles, a doctoral research fellow in obstetric medicine at Guys and St Thomas NHS Trust.
They say "the only ethical advice that can be given is complete abstinence from alcohol in pregnancy."
Infants can suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, mental retardation, development and behavioural abnormalities, and low birth weight. But how and when fetal damage occurs is unknown and will vary according to each individual pregnancy, they explain.
"Pregnant women must know there is no evidence of a threshold level of alcohol consumption in pregnancy below which there can be certainty that exposure is safe," they argue. They also say that "current guidance flies in the face of evidence and international consensus," adding that these present a "contradictory, confusing barrage of mixed messages."