Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

A young pregnant woman in her twenties is at a Pacer game with her husband. She does not realize that she is pregnant yet and indulges on five beers at the game. Is her fetus saved from fetal alcohol syndrome? <Tab/>Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a livelong yet completely preventable set of physical, mental and neurobehavioral birth defects with alcohol consumption during pregnancy and is the leading cause of mental …

…and ARND occur? Alcohol is a teratogen, which means that it is a substance that is toxic to human development. When a mother consumers alcohol (etOH), it goes into the placenta and enters fetal circulation. When this happens, the EtOH is metabolized in the fetal tissues and is detectable in the newborns meconium. (Koren 1182) In other words, the blood alcohol level of the mother is very similar to the blood alcohol level of the infant.