COLUMBIA, S.C. - Governor Nikki Haley has proclaimed September 9 as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Awareness Day in South Carolina.
The South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS), along with the other members of the FASD collaborative, urges South Carolinians to join the rest of the nation in working together to help ensure the brightest possible future for the children of the Palmetto State.
"Approximately one in every 300 babies in the Palmetto State is born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome," stated Gov. Haley in her proclamation, "and one in every 50 has a wider range of alcohol-related birth defects."
Every time a pregnant woman has a drink, her unborn child has one too. Alcohol, like carbon monoxide from cigarettes, passes easily through the placenta from the mother's bloodstream into her baby's blood and puts her fetus at risk of having an FASD.
Resulting impairments may include, but are not limited to, intellectual disability; learning disabilities; attention deficits; hyperactivity; and problems with impulse control, language, memory, and social skills. Although skilled intervention services can help individuals with an FASD improve their quality of life, there is no effective treatment or cure.
However, early identification of alcohol problems among women of childbearing age offers a targeted strategy to prevent FASD. Research indicates that something as simple as reading a self-help pamphlet may encourage women who are not already abusing alcohol to cut down on their drinking.
For more information on the dangers of alcohol and other drug use during pregnancy, a copy of a DAODAS brochure titled "A Special Delivery Should Be Handled With Care" can be downloaded at www.daodas.state.sc.us/brochure_baby.asp <http://www.daodas.state.sc.us/brochure_baby.asp>.
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Gov. Nikki Haley (Source: www.thestate.com)
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