Women who are pregnant or are having sexual intercourse without the proper protection are advised not to drink alcohol. Drinking while pregnant can cause many problems to the fetus, involving the heart, the face, the brain and organs; even worse, drinking while pregnant increases the risks of having a miscarriage or delivering a premature child. While pregnant the fetus is very vulnerable to many toxins, such as alcohol, and drugs, so when the mother drinks alcohol, so does the fetus, since blood carries alcohol in the fetus bloodstream. At five weeks the fetus begins to form the brain, which then starts to grow rapidly, this is a crucial time for mothers to nourish their bodies with many proteins and keep away from dangerous toxins. One of the most probable results of drinking while pregnant is the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has been linked to low I.Q. in children. Over the years there has been many studies to determine if a child’s I.Q. if affected by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Jones and Smith first introduced Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in the United States in 1973, Jones and Smith described FAS as a “distinctive set of facial anomalies in children whose mothers drank heavily during pregnancy, accompanied by prenatal and/or postnatal growth retardation and cognitive/behavioral problems” (Burden). Children who suffer from FAS commonly have face abnormalities, which may or may not include: flat mid-face, short nose, low nasal bridge, thin lips, short palpable fissures, indistinct philtrum, epicanthal folds, minor ear abnormalities, and micrognathia. These kids also tend to have a much more smaller head than the average child. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has also been linked to I.Q deficiency. Doctors cannot diagnose a child with AFS without being certain that a child has a cognitive deficit. “in order to be diagnosed with FAS, a person must have: Cognitive deficits (e.g., low IQ), or significant developmental delay in children who are too young for an IQ assessment (CDC). FAS are nonhereditary; alcohol causes neuronal damage and cell loss in the fetal brain through direct contact as a toxin. When a pregnant woman consumes alcohol she’s destroying her fetus brain cells. “The Journal of Family Practice”, released a story on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and stated that “Even low levels of prenatal alcohol use as low as 1 drink per week have been associated with adverse behavioral changes in children, including increased aggressive behaviors documented at school age”(Boyce). “The Journal of American Family Physician”, concluded, “two alcoholic drinks during pregnancy may lead to loss of fetal brain cells” (Wattendorf, Muenke). The authors for these Journals, and researchers, agree that if a mother consumes any amount of alcohol, she’s destroying fetal brain cells. Most women who engage in drinking while pregnant are women who are 35-44 years of age. 1 in 50 pregnant women admitted to purposely drink while pregnant, this statistic has not changed in 15 years. There should be more effort to bring this statistic to a halt; children should not pay for the rest of their lives, due to the carelessness of their mother. Pregnant women who admitted to being binge drinkers (having five or more drinks at one time) were employed and not married. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention have identified that most of the binge drinkers are from Northern States: Montana, Minnesota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. It’s estimates that 1.5 cases of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) occur for every 1,000 live births, roughly about 6 to 22 infants with FAS that are born in the United States each day. Authors agree that socioeconomics play a huge part in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, for example, the kind of economic background the mother comes from, and her ethnicity. Social economic class has a great effect on FAS birth rates between the low income and middle class. The Journal of Addictive Diseases conclude that there was highly significant difference in the incidence of FAS offspring between upper middle and lower class alcoholic mothers, 4.5% versus 70.9%(Bingol, Schuster, Fuchs, Losub, & Turner, 1997). Ethnicity also plays a huge part on the FAS rates; minorities are most likely to be affected with FAS. According to the CDC, incidences of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome per 10,000 total births for different ethnic groups were as follows: Asians 0.3, Hispanics 0.8, whites 0.9, blacks 6.0, and Native Americans 29.9. Native Americans have some of the highest rates of fetal alcohol syndrome in the Nation. Some factors of why AFS rates so elevated within the Native American community may be, cultural influences, patterns of alcohol consumption, and violence. As the U.S Department of Health and Human Service, states, “poverty and inadequate access to health care also play a major role. About 32 percent of Native Americans live below the poverty level. Native American communities are very young this difference tends to magnify the impact of binge drinking and risky behaviors, which are more common among youth”. Children with FAS come across many challenges normal kids do not come across; children with FAS are not capable of doing some things that normal kids can do. The CDC and researchers of various departments have concluded that children with FAS might or might not have the following characteristics: * Hyperactive behavior * Difficulty paying attention * Poor memory * Difficulty in school * Learning disabilities * Speech and language delays * Intellectual disability or low IQ * Poor reasoning and judgment skills

Kids with FAS have poor verbal and nonverbal skills, and have slower movements or reactions. In Journal of Family Practice experts state that “children with FAS show cognitive delays, and mathematics is often an area of severe delay” (Boyce). Since IQ goes hand in hand with the brain and how the brain functions, kids with FAS tend to score much lower in IQ tests, because their brain, is structured differently than normal child’s’ brain. According to Dr. Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D. a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Family Therapy, Crisis Intervention Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, the IQ range that is referred to as Normal is between 90 and 110. The IQ for a child diagnosed with FAS is about a 65, that’s way lower than a normal child’s. The severity of the syndrome is related to IQ, with the most severely affecting children having the lowest IQ scores. Also in one study done by Jirikowic, Gelo, Astley, children who were exposed to binge drinking were 1.7 times as likely to have IQ scores in the mentally retarded range and 2.5 times more likely to have clinically significant levels of delinquent behavior” (Boyce). All of the researches, and conclusions point out to one thing, kids who are diagnosed with FAS are the children, later on adults who have the low IQ scores and tend to get involved in criminal activities. As stated in the National Institutes of Health, “The consequences are lifelong, and the behavioral and learning difficulties are often greater than the degree of neurocognitive impairment” (Wattendorf, Muenke). The cost of caring for a person diagnosed with FAS is extremely high and most children who are diagnosed with AFS are children who come from a low-income background, who are on government assistance. Which means the government is held responsible for all of the financial aid in treatment for AFS to theses children. According to the CDC “Annual cost estimates for the United States range from $75 million in 1984 to $4.0 billion in 1998. Estimates of lifetime cost vary from $596,000 in 1980 to $1.4 million in 1988. There are no two people with AFS with who are alike, they may have a variation of different symptoms or face abnormalities so treatment for a patient with AFS should be different for each patient. Even though there are no known cures to get rid of AFS, studies have shown that early diagnosis, involvement in special education and social services, loving, nurturing, and stable home environment, and absence of violence can help reduce the effect of AFS. There have been many studies to determine whether or not Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has an impact on a child’s IQ. Researchers have gathered enough facts and evidence to conclude that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome does have a negative impact to a child’s IQ.

Work Cited Bingol, N, Schuster, C, Fuchs, Losub, S, & Turner, G. (1997). The influence of socioeconomic factors on the occurrence of fetal alcohol syndrome. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 6(4), 105-118. Boyce, Mary C. "A better future for baby: Stemming the tide of fetal alcohol syndrome." Journal of Family Practice 59.6 (2010): 337-345. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. EBSCO. Web. 7 Mar. 2011
Burden, M. J., Westerlund, A., Muckle, G., Dodge, N., Dewailly, E., Nelson, C. A., Jacobson, S. W. and Jacobson, J. L. (2011), The Effects of Maternal Binge Drinking During Pregnancy on Neural Correlates of Response Inhibition and Memory in Childhood. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35: 69–82. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01323.x
Kalberg, W., Provost, B., Tollison, S., Tabachnick, B., Robinson, L., Eugene Hoyme, H., & ... May, P. (2006). Comparison of motor delays in young children with fetal alcohol syndrome to those with prenatal alcohol exposure and with no prenatal alcohol exposure. Alcoholism, Clinical And Experimental Research, 30(12), 2037-2045. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
WATTENDORF, MAJ, MC, USAF, DANIEL J., and MAXIMILIAN MUENKE, M.D. "National Human Genome Research Institute." National Institutes of Health. 15;72.(2) (2005): (279-285). Print Tracy Jirikowic, Julie Gelo and Susan Astley (2010) Children and Youth With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Summary of Intervention Recommendations After Clinical Diagnosis. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: October 2010, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 330-344