while pregnant.

No amount of alcohol in pregnancy has been established as safe for the fetus.

FAS is the biggest cause of mental retardation in North America, and could be totally prevented if all women abstained from alcohol in pregnancy.

The less obvious and seemingly milder Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) can be equally damaging to babies.

Some experts estimate that about one percent of North Americans suffer from FAS or FAE - about four times as many people as those with AIDS/HIV. There are three to five times as many people with FAE and FAS.

However, some research indicates that as many as one in eight children in the US has some form of permanent brain damage caused by maternal drinking in pregnancy.

Since 1973, the medical profession has known that alcohol in pregnancy impedes fetal brain development, affecting intelligence, learning skills and behaviour.

People with FAS have distinctive physical appearance and lower IQs, but have lower crime and addiction rates than individuals with FAE, as those with FAS get earlier diagnosis and can be better protected by society and their parents.

Individuals with FAE may look normal and have seemingly normal intelligence, but their damaged brains can result in learning disabilities, impulsivity, lying, stealing, tantrums, violence and aggression, inability to predict consequences or learning from experience, lack of conscience, and being highly addictive.

Most people with FAE perfectly normal and are never diagnosed. A high percentage of homeless people and juvenile and adult offenders suffer from undiagnosed FAS/E.

Of individuals with FAS/E between the ages of 12 and 51: 95 percent will have mental health problems; 68 percent will have "disrupted school experience''; 68 percent will experience trouble with the law; 55 percent will be confined in prison, drug or alcohol treatment centre or mental institution; 52 percent will exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviour.

Of individuals with FAS/E between 21 and 51: More than 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females will have alcohol and drug problems; 82 percent will not be able to live independently; 70 percent will have problems with employment.

Some researchers estimate that each individual with FAS costs the taxpayer approximately $2 million in his or her lifetime, for health problems, special education, psychotherapy and counselling, welfare, crime, and the criminal justice system.

During their lifetimes, individuals with FAS now alive in Canada will cost the taxpayers about $600 billion, about the same as the current national debt. In the US, they will cost the taxpayers about $6 trillion.

DRUGS DGS