Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Alcohol, also known as ethanol, is a legal substance, which causes a person to become relaxed and “care-free”. Once alcohol is consumed, it is released into the bloodstream, which causes the brain to react, causing side effects. When a woman drinks alcohol while being pregnant, it can cause some physical and mental damage to the fetus. When a fetus is affected by alcohol exposure, it is called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). If the affects are severe, it is then termed Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The abnormalities occur in the central nervous system, facial structure, growth, and neurobehavioral development of the child. Severity of the damage depends on the amount of consumption, frequency, and timing of the consumption (Ungerer, Knezovich and Ramsay, 2013). Approximately 1 in 100 births have FASD effects. In the United States, 2-7 out of 1000 births are affected by FAS. 2-5% of young children in the United States and Western Europe are affected by FASD, while in Italy, the rate of FASD is 20.3-40.5 per 1000 births (Riley, Infante, Warren, 2011). These results are happening because 10-20% of women in the United States, 40% in Uruguay, and 50% of Italy consume alcohol while pregnant (Valenzuela, Morton and Diaz, 2012).

There have been many experiments over the past few decades testing for prenatal alcohol exposure. These studies have shown that exposure causes a variety of abnormalities. These abnormalities include unusual growth, mental disabilities, Central Nervous System deformities, and distinct craniofacial disfiguration (Ungerer, Knezovich and Ramsay, 2013).

In the article, “Effects of moderate drinking during pregnancy on placental gene expression”, they conducted an experiment to determine if gene expression ...

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...know where it is needed. For the past 20 years, the cost of FAS continues to increase. In 1991, the cost of FAS alone was around $75 million; it is now near $3.6 billion. This is in the United States alone, which shows how much the public needs to be educated (Riley, Infante and Warren, 2011).

Prenatal alcohol exposure has become a serious problem not only in our country, but also all around the world. It is affecting the future generations of this planet and their health. The public needs to be well informed on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and how to prevent it from happening. By doing this, it will save our people billions of dollars as a whole and will stop abnormalities in the people. FAS and FASD are malformations that don’t need to happen and can be prevented so easily. If only the people knew the severity of the consequences to their actions.