Alcohol's Fetal Harm Lasts a Lifetime

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Alcohol's fetal harm lasts a lifetime

Pregnant women who abuse alcohol may hand down a lifetime legacy of disabling mental and behavioral problems to their offspring, according to the first systematic study of the long-term consequences of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Adolescents and adults assigned a diagnosis of FAS during childhood often appear alert and verbal, but they cannot live independently, hold down jobs or succeed at school because of poor concentration, social withdrawal, impulsiveness, report psychologist Ann P. Streissguth of the University of Washington in Seattle and her colleagues. Mental retardation also persists among a majority of those with FAS, …