Level of foetal alcohol damage is underestimated

FOR almost 30 years Irish companies exporting alcohol to the US have been required by law to warn women of the risks when alcohol is consumed in pregnancy.

The same products destined for the Irish market do not offer that information, and so knowledge of the potential for harm, which will not always be evident at birth, is withheld.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is the rarest of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, forming only a fraction of the outcomes resulting from prenatal exposure to the drug alcohol.