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The following are some fast facts about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder has the largest incidence of any major birth defect.

• For every 10,000 births in Canada, three out of 10,000 will have muscular dystrophy. There will be four with HIV infection, four with cystic fibrosis, eight will be born with spina bifida, 10 with Down syndrome. Twenty will have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and another 100 will have alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, which will likely never be diagnosed.

• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is the biggest single cause of mental disabilities in most industrialized countries and could be prevented if women abstained from alcohol during pregnancy.

• Some experts estimate that about one per cent of North Americans suffer from a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, about four times as many people as those with AIDS/HIV.

• Research indicates that a high percentage of homeless people, and at least 25 per cent of juvenile and adult offenders, suffer from undiagnosed fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

• People with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder tend to have many children, who generally also have the disorder.

~ Courtesy of www.fasworld.com