Reported Rise in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Re-Kegerator Mothers
By Anne Dachel
This past week, in the midst of my search for the latest story on the explosion in special education in countries around the world, I found this stunning piece from the New York Times on February 6th. The title said it all, Far More U.S. Children than Previously Thought May Have Fetal Alcohol Disorders.
Before I get into the details of the story, let me just say, I could have predicted this was coming. It is one more attempt to blame parents for the disorders now plaguing our children and overwhelming schools.
I’ve compiled a year’s worth of stories on the explosion in special needs kids in schools worldwide, especially the ones who have mental/behavioral health issues. “Better diagnosing” and “greater awareness” will be a hard sell on this one (although a number of stories talk about less stigma more openness about mental illness.)
Something is clearly affecting large numbers of kids. We’re being saturated with news reports on the changes in our schools because of the students who cannot learn in a traditional classroom setting. (I’ve written volumes about the coverage over the last year: more special education services, sensory rooms, flexible seating, more therapists, behavior coaches and school psychologists, yoga, school suspensions, and isolation rooms.)
Educators and medical experts have explanations and none of them have to do with toxic exposures damaging children. Most often cited as the reason for the dysfunctional school population is trauma, also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)—the bad things that happen to kids at home: abuse, neglect, addicted/mentally ill parents, even a death in the family or parents who divorce.
(There is also blame placed on too much social media, lack of sleep, and bullying.)
NOW enter the latest villain: THE DRINKING MOM!
To those of us in the autism community who’ve watched autism become a normal and acceptable part of childhood, it sounds very familiar. We’ve seen several decades of official research that linked the development of autism to bad things parents do. Autism is associated with:…old moms, fat moms, DRINKING MOMS, smoking moms, moms on anti-depressants, moms who marry old dads, moms who have preemies, moms who have babies too close together, moms who live too close to freeways.
Now the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control are all in the Times warning us that a percentage of the students in our school who can’t behave and who can’t learn are that way because their mothers drank while they were pregnant.
Dr. Susan Astley, director of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnostic and Prevention Network at the University of Washington, who was not involved in the study, said this in the Times: ‘When you identify a kid with FASD, you’ve just identified a mom who drank during pregnancy and harmed her child.’
Parents of course would have a lot of reasons to deny this, so it’s probably been overlooked in the past.
“Then there is the stigma that often makes mothers reluctant to acknowledge alcohol consumption.”
“Based on their findings, they estimated conservatively that fetal alcohol spectrum disorders affect 1.1 to 5 percent of children in the U.S., up to five times previous estimates. About 1.5 percent of children are currently diagnosed with autism.”
(It’s interesting that a comparison with autism is made here.)
Dr. Howard Taras, who was part of the study and is the physician for the San Diego Unified School District, was quoted on the extent of the damage: ‘If not in one classroom, certainly in another, there’s going to be one or two kids with these problems, but they’re not identified as such.’
We’re told that abnormal facial features can indicate FASD, but some affected children look like regular kids. What educators have to keep in mind is that the child who is disruptive in the classroom isn’t to blame—it was really mom.
One of the study authors is Dr. Christina Chambers, from the University of California—San Diego. She calls FASD ‘completely preventable and one that we are missing. …
‘If it truly is affecting a substantial proportion of the population, then we can do something about it. We can provide better services for those kids, and we can do a better job of preventing the disorders to begin with.’
We now have another answer to why so many students are special needs. As a result, doctors will warn mothers and schools will provide extra help to the victims of this tragedy. I’m sure more research to support these claims will follow. And once again, the powers that be will confuse this tragedy with yet another red herring.
**Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders is big news. Just as I expected, the news about drinking while pregnant harming children was everywhere on February 6th, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about it. Officials had to come up with some explanation for the shocking decline of education, and this was it. CHECK OUT THESE REPORTS FROM MAJOR NEWS OUTLETS.
FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME
Feb, 2018, CBS News: Fetal alcohol cases may be more common than previously thought
The study of four U.S. communities found that at least 1 percent to 5 percent of first-graders had a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD.…
The prevalence ranged depending on the community. And when the researchers used a less-strict estimate, the rate went as high as 10 percent in one location. …
"The bottom line is, these are not uncommon disorders," said study leader Christina Chambers, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is an umbrella term that includes fetal alcohol syndrome -- which can be fatal, or cause serious problems with learning and behavior, stunted growth and facial abnormalities. It also includes less-severe learning or behavioral issues that can be traced to a woman's prenatal drinking.
Kids in that latter group might have trouble with schoolwork or poor impulse control, for example. And it can be challenging to pinpoint FASD as the cause -- versus a diagnosis like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),Chambers said.…
In the real world, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are often misdiagnosed as ADHD or another developmental disorder, said Dr. Svetlana Popova, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, in Toronto, Canada. …
One issue, she said, is that general practitioners in most countries never receive the training they need to diagnose an FASD, because it's not covered in medical school.
Feb 6, 2018, ABC News: Fetal alcohol syndrome in children up to 10 times more common than experts thought
Experts previously thought that 1 percent of children are affected by the serious, permanent consequences of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
But they were underestimating it.
A new multisite study released by The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that FASD are up to 10 times more common than they thought – perhaps as high as one in 10 children. ...
They used these data to estimate how many children are affected nationally. A conservative approach suggests that 1 to 5 percent of children are affected; a less conservative approach suggests that 3 to 10 percent are affected. …
With rates of binge drinking soaring among reproductive-age women, it’s a conversation that’s long overdue. According to data from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions, women ages 18 to 44 years old are binge drinking significantly more over the 10 years from 2001 to 2002 to 2012 to 2013. In that period, women reporting binge drinking went from 14 to 37 percent. Binge drinking is defined as having four or more alcoholic drinks at a time.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians all agree that there is no “safe” amount of alcohol in pregnancy, and drinking is particularly dangerous to the developing fetus in the first trimester.
Feb 6, 2018, TIME Magazine: Fetal Alcohol Disorder May Be More Common Than Previously Thought
…FASD is an umbrella term for health abnormalities caused by exposure to alcohol in the womb; it includes fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. FASDs are a leading cause of developmental disabilities around the world, and people with these conditions can experience growth deficiencies, facial abnormalities and organ damage. They often have physical, cognitive and social challenges throughout life, and have an increased risk of premature death. …
The authors also cite a documented increase in alcohol use among women between 2001 and 2013, as well as a 2017 study in which 10% of pregnant women reported drinking alcohol (and 3% reported binge drinking) in the last 30 days.
Feb 6, 2018, News4, Oklahoma City: As many as 1 in 20 US kids harmed by alcohol in the womb, study says
More children have been affected by drinking during pregnancy than previously thought, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Up to one in 20 American kids fall somewhere on the spectrum of disorders caused by maternal drinking, according to the study’s more conservative estimate. But that number could be as many as 1 in 10, using another approach outlined in the study.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are a group of conditions that may include abnormal growth and facial features, intellectual disabilities and behavioral problems, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. …“
We have long thought and believed that estimates that we had previously in the US were pretty gross underestimates,” said Christina Chambers, one of the study’s authors and a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. “It’s not an easy disorder to recognize.”
Feb 6, 2018, Forbes: Fetal Alcohol Disorders Up to 10 Times More Common Than Believed
…Up to 10 times more children have disabilities related to fetal alcohol exposure -- drinking during pregnancy -- than previously believed, finds a new study. As many as one in 10 children in some U.S. communities may have some type of disability due to maternal drinking during pregnancy, the research suggests.
Not only does this finding reveal substantial numbers of children with potentially unrecognized disabilities who need help, but it also drives home how widespread disabilities are from drinking during pregnancy—even if it’s not heavy or binge drinking.
banipal ayvaz,
You are completely wrong in what you say. The study which is being reported on was claimed to have found that when a child was IDENTIFIED as having FASD the mother was identified as having drunk alcohol during pregnancy. And how was such a child identified? By features which "can indicate" FASD. Reportedly, these features are often "misdiagnosed" as "other developmental disorders" (which could include autism). Doesn't that mean that autism (which we know is caused by vaccines) could be misdiagnosed as FASD? Neither you nor any of the reports claims that a biochemical test proves that the symptoms have been caused by alcohol. The claim about the prevalence of FASD is all about previous "estimates" and revised "estimates". So I repeat, my comment, "They (Big Pharma) would say that wouldn't they?" can not be improved, or denied. Just another attempt by them to cover up the fact that THEY have poisoned millions of us with their injected chemical cocktails.
Posted by: Grace Green | June 09, 2019 at 09:06 AM
Stupid argument. FASD evaluations are independent of a parent reporting drinking. If there is FASD, the mother drank. If there isn’t FASD, then the child doesn’t have FASD. These are not he- said she-said evaluations. They have been validated in double blind studies and many children that have FASD evaluations are international adoptions who’s parents are unknown, yet the evaluations are still accurate.
Posted by: banipal ayvaz | June 08, 2019 at 11:25 PM
Lucy,
Same Question as to Will, above, (and it's noticeable he didn't have any reply!) How can the baby have FAS unless the mother had alcohol during pregnancy? How can any mother prove she didn't drink during pregnancy? Why should parents and children be blamed/punished when there is no evidence against them? The obvious reply to Big Pharma (who you clearly troll for) is, You would say that wouldn't you? It's easy to blame someone to cover up your own crimes against humanity, if you're so powerful that you're not required to present evidence.
Posted by: Grace Green | May 31, 2019 at 02:39 PM
Oops! Sorry, Laura. Have just realised it is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
How amazing that you think most autism is caused by alcoholic mothers.
Posted by: susan welch | May 31, 2019 at 12:29 PM
Lucy, I cannot agree with you that all autistic children are 'born with it' because so many progress normally until multiple vaccines, then a reaction, then regression.
However, the point of this comment is not to argue with you as, of course, we would not agree on that point. It is to ask you what FAS means. Not initials I have come across before.
Posted by: susan welch | May 31, 2019 at 12:24 PM
vaccines dont cause autism. it's a genetic disorder. ie born that way. and agreed that most cases of autism is just undiagnosed FAS
Posted by: Lucy | May 31, 2019 at 08:27 AM
Will, I'm very interested to know how you know which are the women who smoked and drank during pregnancy, have a disabled child, and are now in denial about the drinking, and which are those who didn't drink or smoke but had vaccines or dental amalgams fitted during pregnancy, have an autistic child, and are now being wrongly accused of things they didn't do? What can they say or do to vindicate themselves?
Posted by: Grace Green | February 10, 2018 at 05:55 AM
Alot of White and Asian women smoke and drink and are in denial about it and cover it up with some excuse when their children come out disabled. These same racist women (along with the media) exaggerate drug and alcohol problem among African and Native American descent people. Yes alcohol and drugs are environmental causes along with air pollution and GMO foods. Yes Fetal Alcohol syndrome which can be a spectrum from mild to severe is more common than thought because a beer and wine in CE 1000 was 1-5% alcohol and now in 2018 over 15% alcohol a lot more of a dangerous. Do NOT drink during pregnancy!
Posted by: Will | February 09, 2018 at 04:39 PM
A great article there are and lets not forget the many, who cannot even make school,that the governments try very hard to erase.
Family claims authorities refuse to help their autistic daughter
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5368211/Local-health-authorities-refuse-help-autistic-girl.html
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | February 09, 2018 at 05:01 AM
How have I managed to lead a very busy life (in the UK) for 73 years and this is the first time I have ever heard of fetal alcohol syndrome?
Posted by: susan welch | February 09, 2018 at 04:27 AM
One issue, she said, is that general practitioners in most countries never receive the training they need to diagnose an FASD, because it's not covered in medical school.
Uh, kind of like vaccine injury.
This piece makes me want to binge drink! Thank goodness my, healthy, neuro- typical, selectively and un-vaccinated, children are all asleep so I can do so!
Posted by: annie | February 09, 2018 at 12:04 AM
The best lies have some truth in them. I agree with Bob: it is a terrible thing to drink while you're pregnant and very damaging. I had a friend in Canada who fostered two Crow Indian sisters who had FAS, but they were unmanageable, and the day they dangled their adopted baby boy (who turned out to have autism) over the railing above their palatial living room was the day they gave the girls back to the foster care agency.
But everyone now knows that vaccines cause autism. No one is going to meekly say, Well, I'm glad we got THAT straightened out now, it's really all undiagnosed cases of FAS.
Posted by: cia parker | February 08, 2018 at 05:11 PM
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a bonafide congenital disorder - it just is not a new congenital disorder. It was first diagnosed in 1973, and yes, certain facial anomalies (characteristics) are part of the diagnosis, along with some other organ anomalies, often low birth weight and low growth and development, often smaller head size, low muscle tone and almost universally, cognitive deficits. But, it seems that we have now included FAS into a spectrum that recognizes milder effects of alcohol on the developing fetus, which I had not heard of before this article. The new name is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Sounds familiar, doesn't it!!!! But, even with this broader criteria, what these articles say to me is another indictment of the medical community and how we are currently conducting "so called" well visits. There would have to be a whole lot of failure on a whole lot of professionals' parts for a child to make it to first grade, and no one notice that they have either FAS or this "Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome". First, the OBGYN has to have not noticed the low growth weight of the developing fetus and the lower birth weight of the baby. Then, the mother would have had to not notice some of the feeding issues, like poor nipple suck. Then the pediatrician, who one would hope does some type of developmental exam in the child's first two years of life, would have to never notice a child whose growth and development is outside of normal, on the lower end, including a smaller head size. And the pediatrician would have to not notice that the child has either low muscle tone, and is not meeting age appropriate milestones in gross motor, fine motor, and speech development. And then the pre-school teacher, head start teacher, or day care provider would have to not notice that the child is developing slower than their peers in all areas (besides any ADHD). And if everyone else has not noticed these things, then ALL of the kindergarten teachers at Kindergarten Round-up would have to miss noticing that the child does not perform as well as their age-level peers on the pre-requisites to kindergarten. So, I'm sorry, but I have a really hard time believing this here-to-for unreported, hidden horde. If it is accurate, OBGYNs and PEDs need to go back to school, because they missed a few classes on very well known pediatric disorders. Dr. Susan Atley, in that 4th article, by News4, Oklahoma City, does not believe the results of this study, either.
Posted by: Jeanne J | February 08, 2018 at 04:47 PM
Sometimes I envision how this actually works tactically. Does the head of some pharma association field calls from the marketing/PR departments at various member pharma companies, and then does he/she sit around with the team and say ok guys, the consensus is that we're going to push alcohol as the culprit? And everyone sitting around the table nods their head? And then they call their contacts at the six corporations that ultimately own every media outlet? And they tap a junior reporter (the younger and more naive the better) to write up some copy pointing to alcohol as the reason behind increasing childhood illness? And no human being along the chain stops to critically think about this?
Or they are not really human beings. I'm just fascinated by how this actually plays out behind the scenes. At this point, you have to be the living dead to work at a pharma company and not question what is happening. You've made a conscious decision to shut off your brain and soul and go through life robotically.
Posted by: Mary | February 08, 2018 at 04:08 PM
jessica: FAS is indeed real, and is obvious in distinctive facial features. I well remember two brothers in a special ed class who had the classic features, along with mental retardation. But conflating a group of behaviors into an FAS diagnosis and calling it a spectrum is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Typical media propaganda. A new wave. ACE's weren't enough! What will be next?
Posted by: Gary Ogden | February 08, 2018 at 03:02 PM
Jessica, Fetal alcohol syndrome is not made real by the presence of facial features, given that those features are similar to the facial features caused by vaccines. I repeat my earlier point - fetal alcohol syndrome requires the presence of alcohol just as vaccine injury follows a vaccine. Don't let's go along with their nonsense!
Posted by: Grace Green | February 08, 2018 at 02:29 PM
What about maternal leaky gut syndrome or maternal flu shot induced gut imbalance syndrome (if not outright fetal brain poisoning via mercury or immune system activation against the fetal brain via the presence of mercury) or antibiotic decimated gut syndrome, probably have to include dental amalgam, especially amalgams especially placed circa 1976 and later and maybe other dental products in the "antibiotic" classification, exacerbated if not induced by near perpetual electromagnetic radiation exposure?
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | February 08, 2018 at 01:34 PM
Huh. Nice concerted effort/mad scramble on the part of the media to try to explain away the demise of American children. I can't help but think of SNL's Jon Lovitz: "Fetal Alcohol syndrome...Yeah! That's the ticket!"
Maybe they could even come up with a handy dandy colorful poster to plaster all over the place: "Good (doctor approved) ways to poison your baby!" and "Bad ways to poison your baby!" We all know what would go into each category.
You've gotta love that last line in the NYT article, too: “We have to scream about this problem to the world.” Why is it that prenatal damage from alcohol is considered scream-worthy, but damage from vaccines is continually silenced? Heck, they'd duct-tape our mouths shut if they could.
I echo Gary's comment below. "What a load of BS."
Posted by: Donna L. | February 08, 2018 at 12:15 PM
Ridiculous.
Posted by: Linda1 | February 08, 2018 at 09:02 AM
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is real, you can tell by looking at a child's facial feature if
they were exposed to alcohol. Similar to a child with crooked facials features from vaccines.
Broccoli helps with this condition. It heals the brain.
Study: https://www.mofas.org/2015/10/choline-supplementation-in-children-with-fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorders-a-randomized-double-blind-placebo-controlled-trial/
Solution: https://superhealthychildren.com/what-plant-foods-contain-choline/
Posted by: jessica | February 08, 2018 at 08:41 AM
Right on!
"why is it the AAP and others are so .. (rightly so in my opinion) .. worried about "drinking moms" ... yet these very same organizations remain unconcerned regarding the vaccines THEY approve for pregnant women"
Posted by: Donna | February 08, 2018 at 08:32 AM
Bob Moffit: They do it because they are in Denial. The mainstream media is suffering from AODSD: Adult-Onset Denial Spectrum Disorder. What a load of BS.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | February 08, 2018 at 08:24 AM
Darwin would have spotted it surely! If we were meant to smoke tobacco we would have been born with a chimney on top of our heads ?
What on earth does it say on the latest, commercialised, medical label, factory farm, conveyor belt.
Lennox Castle Hospital. Glasgow mid 1980's only qualified staff and students allowed to read patients medical records . Records kept in a locked cabinet in the charge nurses office . Medical diagnosis /labels included , Idiot , Imbecile, Retard , high or low grade, Moral defective ie pregnant but not married , Spastic with Epeleptic personality. Happy Puppet Syndrome. Feeble-minded ,Mongol, Mental Deficiency ,plus a list of other "labels"
Pills and Syrups need a target "Label"to sell to? Diagnosticn and Stastistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5 ."Utter Bedlam continues " Leadership Merchants still using the same selection methods to train future Medical Merchants and industry commercialised guideline stoogies to use predictable crippled criteria . Bedlam going around in ever decreasing circles .
Victoria Wood -University Interview Youtube Comedy reflecting reality perfectly!
Posted by: Morag | February 08, 2018 at 08:12 AM
Similarly, I have been repeatedly accused by medical and dental practitioners of causing all my symptoms by having a poor diet. (I've been something of what they would call a health fanatic since leaving home at 17). They've all, however, refused to discuss what my diet actually consists of, despite my request to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman for them to do so. This is just a cover-up of what they know the real reason to be, as are all their other excuses. Have these babies who "may" have fetal alcohol syndrome been tested for the presence of - alcohol? No, I don't suppose so.
Posted by: Grace Green | February 08, 2018 at 08:09 AM
'The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians all agree that there is no “safe” amount of alcohol in pregnancy, and drinking is particularly dangerous to the developing fetus in the first trimester"
I think we can all agree "there is no "safe" mount of alcohol in pregnancy .. especially dangerous to the developing fetus in the first trimester.
I am still awaiting the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the AAP and the American Academy of Family Physicians to define what the "safe" amount of mercury or aluminum .. just two of many others .. that are contained in vaccines recommended and approved for pregnant women?
Indeed, for a newborn infant .. within hours of birth .. how "safe" is it to administer the HEP B vaccine .. which Hepatitis B vaccine (Recombivax HB) contains: Yeast or yeast extract, Amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, amino acids, dextrose, formaldehyde, mineral salts, potassium aluminum sulfate, soy peptone, yeast protein?
We could ask the same .. how "safe" is it .. for all the other vaccines recommended and approved for pregnant women.
It's probably just me .. but .. why is it the AAP and others are so .. (rightly so in my opinion) .. worried about "drinking moms" ... yet these very same organizations remain unconcerned regarding the vaccines THEY approve for pregnant women.
Posted by: bob moffit | February 08, 2018 at 06:46 AM