Heavy maternal drinking is a major pregnancy risk and a significant public health problem. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) was first reported as a recognizable clinical syndrome nearly thirty years ago. It is characterized by

1. prenatal and/or postnatal growth restriction
2. central nervous system (brain) abnormalities and
3. facial dysmorphology, i.e., an abnormal appearing face characterized by underdevelopment of the midface with small eyes, a short nose and a long simple (flat) philtrum, the area below the nose and above the upper lip.

As these children grow up, they are often mildly mentally retarded, with average IQs of about 70 and disabling behavioral abnormalities. In addition, there is a continuum of abnormalities among offspring exposed before birth to alcohol, but without the full syndrome—abnormalities that are much more common than full FAS. There are anatomic anomalies, called alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD...