Exposure to alcohol during fetal development can cause Fetal Alcohol Syndome which can bear a range of ailments, from slight variations in I.Q. to intense psychological retardation. They can also experience growth retardation in unstable levels and suffer birth defects of major organ systems.
One of the worst scenarios is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which includes abnormalities in three different areas all at once - complications of the brain, growth retardation, and facial deformations. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and other alcohol-related complications can be erased by avoiding the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy.
From 1991 to 1995, CDC recounted a fourfold increase in frequent (which is seven or more drinks per week) and binge (five or more drinks at once) drinking during pregnancy. While on the whole rate the of any alcohol usage amid expecting women has dropped since 1995; rates of frequent and binge drinking have yet to drop or even change.
CDC calculates that over 130,000 pregnant women per year in the United States use alcohol at levels proven to augment the threat of conceiving a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or other alcohol-related complications.
It has also been shown that .03% of all women who are aware that they are pregnant admit to "risk drinking" (7 or more drinks per week, or 5 or more drinks at any one period).
Recent CDC findings specify that 14% women of conceiving age (18 to 44 years of age) who admit not being pregnant function in "risk drinking." If a woman is unaware of her pregnancy, these alcohol levels can introduce a risk to the child.
Birth defects connected with prenatal alcohol contact can arise in the first 3 to 8 weeks of pregnancy, before a woman is aware she is pregnant.
The overall occurrence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is not recognized yet. Different studies show prevalence rates that vary from .3 to 2.2 cases per 1,000 births. This defines that every year in the United States, between 1,200 and 8,800 babies are conceived with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Even more are born with alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND).
Children with FAS often undergo lifelong costs as a result of "in utero alcohol exposure," such as mental retardation, learning complications, and serious behavioral troubles.
The 10th Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health projected that the annual health care costs linked with FAS to be $2.8 billion in 1998.
