New Health Warning on Wine Labels Has Many French Seeing Red

"Responsible women know to drink moderately when they are pregnant," said Veronique Mure, 31, a wine producer who is eight months pregnant. "I myself know that a small glass of wine every once in a while won't hurt."

Not according to the French National Health Institute's written version of the label warning against drinking while pregnant: "This recommendation applies to all occasions, whether daily, specific or festive."

But that is a radical shift in thinking for many French, who have traditionally taken a far more lax approach to drinking than Americans, in part because wine is not considered here to be as detrimental to health as hard liquor.

The legal drinking age is 16. In the past, doctors didn't discourage pregnant women from drinking an occasional glass of Burgundy or champagne. Now, partly because of the new government crusade, French doctors are offering more cautious advice.

Even so, consumer and health advocates say the French have not gone far enough in either food or alcohol warnings. The pregnant woman warning logo is so tiny it is difficult to find on some alcohol labels.

"The health messages we have in France go further than what the E.U. imposes, but it's not enough," said Olivier Andrault of the French Consumers' Union, which has assisted the government in designing healthy living campaigns. "We need real political willingness and courage to confront the problem."

Even the government's health Web site offers mixed signals. The site recommends "the equivalent of at least one-half hour of exercise a day, including brisk walking or riding a bicycle." The accompanying illustration shows a man on a bicycle -- its rear basket loaded with a bag of groceries.

Americans won't see the new warning logo on French wines sold in the United States. French exporters said bottles with the logo have been turned back at the U.S. border because liquor imported to the United States requires warnings to be in English.

"We do prohibit the French (or any other country's) government health warning," Arthur H. Resnick, spokesman for the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said in an e-mail. "We feel that consumers are likely to be confused and possibly misled by a proliferation of government warnings."

Philippe Martin, a French lawmaker and champagne producer who opposed the warning label requirement, says it's not only Americans who might be confounded by the logo.

"The government wanted to ease their conscience with such a logo and please anti-alcohol associations," Martin said. "But in the end, consumers remain confused."

Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.