Dear Editor,

Hello again from St. Marys Correctional Center.

More information I write about in these letters on substance abuse are, I believe, to be quite accurate. The information I’m writing about in this letter is a medical fact.

“Fetal Alcohol Syndrome”

A condition, caused by maternal alcohol intake during pregnancy, in which the baby is born mentally retarded, with a small head, and facial, organ, and behavioral abnormalities.

Few mothers would think of giving their newborns beer, wine, or hard liquor. But this is precisely what they are doing when they drink alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol crosses the placental barrier, and alcohol levels in the fetus almost match the levels in the mother’s blood. Alcohol can alter brain development during pregnancy. And it doesn’t take a lot of alcohol. The fetal brain can be adversely affected if a woman drinks only moderately. Women who drink heavily during pregnancy risk having babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. Babies with this syndrome are mentally retarded and have abnormally small heads with wide-set eyes and a short nose. In additional to these and other anatomical abnormalities, they have behavioral problems such as hyperactivity. Some children prenatally exposed to alcohol have fetal alcohol affects-some of the characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome but in less severe form.

Alcohol not only destroys and harms people already in the world, but also those who haven’t even had a chance to come in it yet, and who have no say what’s put in their bodies.

Not only alcohol, but all drugs are harmful to unborn babies.

It’s not only scientifically proven, it’s also just pure common sense. Chase your dreams, not drugs!

Sincerely

Warren Wade #31735

St. Marys Correctional Center