Fetal Alcohol Syndrom

It is from a public health standpoint, rather than from knowledge of indipercent of pregnant wompr. i^ percent of pregnant women in the United States reported drinking alcohol in the month preceding the survey, and 3 percent admitted to at least one binge. (Alcohol consumption is notoriously underreported in this kind of survey.) Prenatal alcohol use is thought to be responsible for at least 4,000 cases of mental retardation in the United States each year and perhaps ten times that number of children with mild learning or behavioral problems. (Because the milder effects of prenatal alcohol generally do not show up until several years after birth, one wonders how often these e effects are attributed to other factors.) Society pays a heavy price for alcohol consumption during pregnancy, which is why the U.S. Congress began requiring warnings about FAS on alcohol bottles in 1989. Although alcohol consumption during pregnancy had declined substantially in the 1980s, it actually increased between 1991 and 1995.

Lise Eliot, What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life (2000-10-03)

• fetal alcohol syndrome
• fetal development
• pregnancy