AUSSIE doctors have demanded the federal government take action against poor alcohol labelling that could put pregnant mothers at risk.

The alcoholic beverage industry’s lax approach to providing pregnancy warnings could have devastating consequences on unborn children, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) said in a statement today.

“With less than half of alcohol manufacturers currently using pregnancy warning labels we can’t look to the industry to self-regulate,” President of Paediatrics and Child Health at the RACP Professor Paul Colditz said.

“There is also an inherent conflict of interest under the current approach where consumers are ultimately directed towards industry websites for warning information and may be exposed to contradictory messages.”

Mr Coditz, an alcohol policy expert, said it was paramount to prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders (FASD), caused by drinking alcohol while pregnant.

“(It) can lead to birth defects and lifelong neurodevelopmental problems,” Prof Colditz said.

“FASD is the most common and preventable cause of serious brain injury in children in Australia. There is no cure for FASD, so prevention is everything.

“This is why clear and unambiguous messaging on the harms of drinking while pregnant is important and why such messaging should be mandatory across all alcohol product labels.”

In a statement, the RACP said it had made a submission to the Food Regulation Standing Committee, which coordinates policy advice helps enforce food standards.

It said it had provided a number of evidence-based recommendations, including new text for warning labels developed by behaviour change experts.

Graphics should feature on the label to convey the harms of alcohol to an unborn baby, the RACP said.

The College demanded warning labels be displayed prominently on the product and standardised across the industry.

“We know that pregnancy warning labels alone are not enough to prevent FASD, but we think it’s a step in the right direction for raising public awareness about the dangers of prenatal alcohol exposure,” Prof Colditz said.

A spokesman from industry body Alcohol Beverages Australia said abstinence awareness was already high under the current labelling system.

“The trend of women abstaining or reducing consumption while pregnant has grown nationally for the past decade,” the spokesman said.

“Policies to address alcohol consumption while pregnant should instead be targeted solutions, which encourage behavioural change in the small minority of women who don’t alter their drinking habits and reduce the rate of FASD - neither of which will be largely impacted by a more onerous labelling policy.”

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016 found 56 per cent of pregnant women abstained from drinking during pregnancy, up from 40 per cent in 2007.

The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.