Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of clinical abnormalities found specifically in some children whose mothers ingested alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol is a teratogenic drug; that is, it can cause birth defects which manifest as physical malformations of the face and head, growth deficiency, mental retardation, and--in particular--central nervous system dysfunction. FAS results in more babies being born mentally retarded than any other known factor--including Down's syndrome and spina bifida--yet is completely preventable as simply as abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy. Although FAS sometimes causes embriotic or fetal death, it tragically and devastatingly interferes with the normal development of the fetus. Even though studies have revealed that, although not all children born to alcoholic mothers are affected, every child born with FAS had a mother who drank during pregnancy. Although use of illicit drugs both alone and in combination with alcohol can cause...