Seattle, April 20—Already faced with declining sales and increasingly hostile public attitudes, the alcoholic beverage industry is bracing for the first in a series of trials in which they are blamed for causing birth defects.The nation's first lawsuit on behalf of children suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome, a birth defect that is the leading known cause of mental retardation, is scheduled to go to trial Monday in Federal District Court here.In the suit, two parents who admit they are alcoholics say a distiller's failure to warn of the link between moderate or heavy whisky consumption and birth defects was the cause of their child's impairment.The suit alleges that liquor manufacturers have a duty to warn consumers that drinking during pregnancy can lead to birth defects. Lawyers for the distiller argue that, because most people already know of the dangers of drinking, the company had no duty to warn of the specific health hazards.
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