The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine or strong drink....(Judges 13:7)THE potential teratogenic effects of alcohol have been suspected for centuries, but it was not until the work of Lemoine in 19681 and the independent observations of Jones and Smith in 19732 that a distinct, dysmorphic condition associated with maternal, gestational alcoholism was described in medical literature.Since alcoholics frequently abuse other drugs, notably caffeine, nicotine and diazepam, and generally have unbalanced diets, it was initially questioned if ethanol could be isolated as the etiologic agent responsible for the "fetal alcohol syndrome." . . .