PHOTO: GETTY IMAGESNicole McKee MP (Opinion ODT 24.3.26) argues that ‘‘New Zealanders should have a serious conversation about alcohol’’. Furthermore, this is only the dollar cost. McKee goes on to say that, of the $9.1b ‘‘gross cost’’ (her words), foetal alcohol spectrum disorder contributes a cost of $4.8b. That means that more than half of the dollar cost ascribed to alcohol-related harm reflects impacts on children, inflicted before they are even born, and the lifelong adverse outcomes associated with this tragic, preventable condition. Apparently, it would be worth doing only if the monetary cost of fixing the road was outweighed by the social cost, in dollars, of not doing it.
