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National
Institute on Drug Abuse: Pregnancy and Drug Use Trends:
"Illegal substance abuse rates higher
for African Americans, the number of white women using drugs
during pregnancy was larger than the number of African-American
women.. As for the legal drugs, estimates of alcohol use
were also highest among white women, compared to African-American
women. Whites had the highest rates of cigarette use as
well."
A National Center for Health Statistics study
found that doctors appear less likely to tell black
women to quit drinking and smoking during pregnancy
than they are to tell white women. Pregnant black
women were thirty percent more likely
than white women to report that they had never
been told to quit drinking, and twenty percent
more likely to report that they had not been told
to quit smoking. (The New York Times, January 19,
1994)
The California Birth Defects Monitoring Program
with the March of Dimes Foundation reports FAS is
diagnosed six times as frequently in African Americans
as in whites. Babies born to women over 30 have
risks three time higher than women under 25. These
findings are similar to those of national registries.
(CA Dept. of Health Services. Birth Defects in California.
Dec. 1994, 30-31).
Effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) can include:
Organ dysfunction.
Growth deficiencies before and after birth.
Central Nervous dysfunction resulting in learning
disabilities and lower IQ.
Physical malformities in the face and cranial
area.
Behavioral and mental problems, which progress
into adulthood.
Statistics:
An average of one to
two reported drinks per day has been
linked to decreased birth-weight, growth abnormalities
and behavioral problems (Alcohol Problems in
Women, 1984).
The probability of having
a child with FAS increases with the amount and frequency
of alcohol consumed. Whenever a pregnant woman stops
drinking, she reduces the risk of having a baby
with FAS (Alcohol Health and Research World, The
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
1995).
FAS is the leading known
cause of mental retardation (Journal
of the American Medical Association, 1991).
FAS and FAE are widely
under-diagnosed (Little, Bertis, Snell, Laura,
1990).
Some experts believe that
between 1/3 and 2/3 of all special education children
have been irreversibly affected by alcohol in some
way.
More than 5,000 infants
are born each year with FAS (Public
Health Education Information Sheet, March of Dimes,
1992).
An additional 50,000 children
show symptoms of FAE (Public
Health Education Information Sheet, March of Dimes,
1992).
1 in 5 pregnant women uses
alcohol and/or other drugs (Substance
Abuse and the American Woman, Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, June 5,
1996).
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