County OKs Posting of Warnings on Alcohol

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, ignoring protests from area retailers, voted Tuesday to require the posting of signs warning pregnant women of the dangers of alcohol consumption at all places selling wine, beer and liquor.

The plan approved on a unanimous vote is identical to a law enacted by the Los Angeles City Council on June 11 affecting more than 7,288 retail outlets within the city. The county-adopted measure will affect another 1,609 liquor stores, bars, markets and restaurants in unincorporated areas, according to Carl R. Falletta of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Essentially, the new law requires signs to be posted that read: “Warning. Drinking wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages during pregnancy can cause birth defects.”

The vote came despite warnings by Gerald Breitbart of the California Restaurant Assn. that the law may be unconstitutional. The group, which represents about 2,000 member restaurants in Los Angeles County, is challenging the city ordinance in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit.

Breitbart said after the supervisors’ vote that a separate challenge would probably not be filed against the county ordinance, explaining that the law would probably be negated if the restaurant association prevails in its suit against the city.

Breitbart and Donald Clinton, association president, acknowledged that there were concerns about the effects of alcohol consumption by pregnant women. However, retail outlets, they added, should not be expected to warn consumers; that should be the duty of the medical profession.

Also opposing the law, which will take effect in mid-November, were representatives of the downtown Westin-Bonaventure Hotel and Safeway Stores Inc.

Advocates of the new law agree that a doctor’s office is the best place for pregnant women to receive advice, but they added that physicians are not always in agreement about how much alcohol is dangerous, and that some pregnant women do not have access to physicians.

“Many poor women receive no care at all. Forty percent of (undocumented aliens) give birth at home, without even the most rudimentary care,” said Mary Louise Frawley of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Task Force.

Similar ordinances have been passed in New York City, Washington, Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio.