Violent Adults linked to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?
By Danell Swim
April 19, 2008
The violent behaviour of the Saturday night drunk who gets into a fight on the streets may be attributable to his mother’s drinking before he was born, a senior doctor has said.
Harry Burns, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said babies born to women who drink heavily in pregnancy develop foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) which can lead to violent behaviour in adulthood.
Dr Burns said he believed the condition was directly linked to antisocial behaviour on Scotland’s streets. He called on women to abstain from drinking alcohol altogether during pregnancy, despite official advice that one or two drinks a week is safe.
Dr Burns was appearing before Holyrood’s Health committee, answering questions about the effects of poor parental care on babies and toddlers. The only major study of the prevalence of FASD – carried out in Italy – estimated that 4 per cent of schoolchildren were affected, he said. It concluded that the Italian custom of drinking wine with meals had as severe an impact on pregnant women as binge-drinking in other countries.
“I suspect that significantly underestimates the problem of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Scotland. I would bet the incidence is very high in young men being violent. If you can identify the risk factors in that, that is something we can definitely intervene in,” said Dr Burns.
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It’s not just Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) that is at risk in these babies/children, but also another related disorder called Sensory Integration Disorder or SID. We just published an article at the GNIF Brain Blogger on this subject with the latest research referenced. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Shaheen