The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity" WELLINGTON, JULY 1, 1947. “PARENTAGE AND STRONG DRINK” ALCOHOL AFFECTS THE GERM CELLS

White Ribbon, Volume 19, Issue 6, 1 July 1947, Page 4

The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity" WELLINGTON, JULY 1, 1947. “PARENTAGE AND STRONG DRINK” ALCOHOL AFFECTS THE GERM CELLS

Althoug' probably most scientists hold that from ihe point of view of heredity the gen.i cells are sacrosanct, many believe tli it they can be damaged by environmental agencies like lead, venereal diseases and alcohol in the blood of the parents, and that these poisons may orodute “enduring modifications” that may continue for several generations. To find out the extent of the influence of aic* i.ol on the reproductive cells, statistical data has often been used, and although this confirms the findings of experiments on animals, this method is open to the criticism that any excessive incidence of defect in the children of habitual drunkards might be due not to the influence of parental alcoholism, but to the pre-

sence of a syphilitic taint or to an

original faultiness in the stock. On this account it is better to rely mainly on data obtainable from the systematic examination of the genital glands in alcoholic subjects and from breeding experiments on animals. The state of the reproductory glands in habitual drunkards has been investigated by various observers, two of the

more recent ones being Bertholet and Weicliselbaum, who have shown that “a wasting of the testicles with absence or scanty production of the fertilising cells (spermatozoa) is to be found in the majority of male alcoholics dying in the prime of life, while In the female, alterations of a similar character may be discovered in the ovaries. ’ It has been shown by experiments on rabbits that corresponding morbid changes can be produced in the genital glands Stockard showed that in * >erics of experiments on guineapigs, the offspring of the alcoholised animals in comparison with the young of the control animals, were conspicuously in/erioc in strength and vitality, and in many cases showed gross abnormalities, and that these bad effects were transmitted through several generations.

L)r. Mjoen in “The Problems of Eugenics' says: “In the infant embryo and at conception we find a still greater sensitiveness than in adults, which in all probability is so great that the harm done by alcohol would be fatal to the race in a short time if Nature had not provided the germ cells with special protective arrangements. Alcohol does not affect sound stock except when taken during conception, maternity or lactation.” But Dr. Courtenay C. Weeks says all the newer evidence points to the fact that, in spite of Nature's harriers, alcohol can affect the germ cells, and that procreation during a period of intoxication entails a definite hazard as to the quality of the offspring which may result.

1 >r. Fraser Harris says: “Possibly one of the most fruitful sources of the birth of infants who will later become imbecile is the alcoholic sperms of the lather."

Dr. Watt Eden says: “I do not think that it can be disputed that alcohol consumed by the mother will pass into the foetal circulation . . and Dr. C. C. Weeks says—“ There is no way in which she (the mother) can safeguard her unborn child except by complete abstinence during the course of her pregnancy*

Dr. Bung? long ago pointed out how often the daughters of alcoholic fathers were unable to nurse their babies.

Dame Louise Mcllroy and Prof. Amy Fleming (the past and present Professors of Midwifery at the Royal Free Hospital, London), have both repeatedly emphasised the danger of

alcohol to motherhood and the unborn child. Then, of course, there is the postnatal stage to be considered. None would deny that the welfare ol the child after its birth is almost bound to be adversely affected if either or both of the parents are addicted to alcohol. RUBY ADENDORFF —Cape of Good Hoj>e “White Ribbon,” April, 1946.