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Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 276-282, 2000
© 2000 Medical Council on Alcoholism

FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME: THE ORIGINS OF A MORAL PANIC

ELIZABETH M. ARMSTRONG and ERNEST L. ABEL*

Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan and Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychology, Wayne State University, MI, USA

Received 6 July 1999; first review notified 11 October 1999; accepted 7 November 1999

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.


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