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Pandora's Bottle: Unleashing the effects of alcohol into the womb

March 03, 2010
(Page 2 of 2)

"Paper after paper that these kids are in our jails. Some of them are actually doing terrible things and hurting others. Many of them are doing stupid things and just hurting themselves. The costs are unbelievable," Clarren says.

Those costs add up to as much as $5 million per person for a lifetime of services that will be needed.

Whether it's the homeless in the tent towns of Juneau or in a living room in Anchorage, it's the child who pays the ultimate price.    

"You love the baby more than the world. But the addiction is so extremely strong," Heather said.

Heather is getting help through the Akeela Stepping Stones Program in Anchorage.

"Heather's family is a very prominent family in the community. They are heavily involved in our medical field. They are not the stereotypical family that you would think of when you hear that a mother has given birth to a child who meets the criteria for FASD," said Courtney Kitiona with Akeela's Stepping Stone Program.

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It gives a reminder that when a pregnant woman opens Pandora's bottle, what flows into the womb does not discriminate between race or class. 

Doctors urge all pregnant women to avoid alcohol completely.

They say birth defects and disabilities from prenatal exposure to alcohol are 100 percent preventable.

Per capita, Alaska has one of the highest rates of alcohol-related birth defects in the nation.

The state recently came out with numbers that show that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the category for the most severe effects, is on the decline. 

The survey looked at six years, 1996 – 2002, years that followed an intensive public awareness campaign.

The downturn was 32 percent statewide, 50 percent among Alaska Natives. 

Some experts question such a dramatic drop and want to know more about how the state arrived at those numbers. 

State epidemiologists say the state's data will withstand scrutiny because its public health surveillance system for fetal alcohol is one of the best in the nation. Janine Schoellhorn, a state epidemiologist, says there were 20 children born with FAS in 1996, compared to 13 in 2002.

Contact Rhonda McBride at rmcbride@ktuu.com

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