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A comprehensive new study published in the journal Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews finds that Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in populations of younger school children may be as high as 2-5% in the United States. This further confirms that the prevalence of alcohol-related birth defects is at least as significant as autism-related disorders, and FASD, by a considerable margin, is the leading preventable developmental disability.
National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) President Tom Donaldson and Vice President and National Spokesperson Kathy Mitchell are alarmed by the findings, “We have always known that FASD is a greater concern then has been recognized. It is deeply troubling to understand just how many children—and obviously adults—are undiagnosed and untreated. Dr. May’s research translates to at least 80,000 newborns a year with FASD, a distressing and truly tragic reality.” They concluded, “There must be a national mandate now to educate the public about the risk of alcohol during pregnancy, identify children and adults with FASD, provide access to treatment for pregnant women who on their own are unable to stop drinking alcohol, and set aside the stigmatization of FASD.”
Kathy Mitchell added, “For 36 years research has overwhelmingly demonstrated that alcohol is toxic to human development and can cause brain damage and a wide range of birth defects. Even though FASD is 100% completely preventable, the fear that FASD is so widespread appears true. Even prior to the recent data, we have believed that FASD is a public health crisis. The finding that as many as 1 to 2 million school children in American under the age of ten have measurable affects of prenatal alcohol exposure confirms this belief. As a society, we can no longer ignore the Surgeon General’s warnings advising women to abstain from all alcohol if they are pregnant or could be pregnant.”
Tom Donaldson said, “Sadly, for families living with FASD and for women still drinking alcohol during pregnancy, alcohol-related birth defects have been a hidden public health crisis. I can only hope that these new findings will be the wake up call that convinces policymakers to give greater attention and investment to alcohol and pregnancy prevention and research, as well as access to a full range of services for the millions of American children with FASD.”
Donaldson and Mitchell agree that recent news that alcohol consumption among pregnant women has edged downward over the past decade is overwhelmed by the 100,000 newborns each year still prenatally exposed to heavy and binge alcohol—the greatest risk for FASD—and at the full scope of the existing problem, “NOFAS, its twenty-one affiliate organizations and others are making progress, but on a small scale. The problem is a big one and that must be recognized if we are ever to fulfill the promise of prevention.”
The study, “Prevalence and epidemiologic characteristics of FASD from various research methods with an emphasis on recent in-school studies,” was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), an institute of the National Institutes of Health. The lead author is the distinguished professor and researcher Philip A. May, PhD, of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. May and his colleagues based their findings on an extensive review of past FASD prevalence studies and primarily on 2007 and 2008 in-school studies they conducted in Western United States cities among mixed-racial and mixed socio-economic-status populations. They emphasized that the in-school studies are the most promising method for establishing the true prevalence of FASD and that such studies are long overdue yet lacking in funding. Dr. May and his colleagues conclude that in light of their findings FASD requires immediate attention, “...From the public health, obstetric, pediatric, and education communities.”
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