Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of clinical abnormalities found specifically in some children whose mothers ingested alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol is a teratogenic drug; that is, it can cause birth defects which manifest as physical malformations of the face and head, growth deficiency, mental retardation, and--in particular--central nervous system dysfunction. FAS results in more babies being born mentally retarded than any other known factor--including Down's syndrome and spina bifida--yet is completely preventable as simply as abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy. The incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome varies from 1 out of 1,500 to 1 out of 600 live births. This wide range is related to differences in drinking practices.

Although FAS sometimes causes fetal death, more often it interferes with the normal development of the fetus. Although not all children born to alcoholic mothers are affected, every child born with FAS had a mother who drank...