Fetal Alcohol Syndrome results from the mother's excessive use of alcohol during pregnancy. The National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (2001) defines Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as "a disorder characterized by growth retardation, facial abnormalities, and central nervous system dysfunction, is caused by a woman's use of alcohol during pregnancy". A large majority of pregnant women are not aware of the complications that are involved with pregnancy. Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause a variety of effects and many expectant women do not use precautionary measures in their nutritional habits to prevent the damage of the life they are bringing into this world. The National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (2000) reports that at least 5,000 infants are born each year with FAS, or approximately one out of every 750 live births. Children that are exposed to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome often "suffer lifelong consequences such as mental retardation, learnin!
             g disabilities, and serious behavioral problems" (CDC and Prevention, 2001). Most pregnant women continue on their drinking and drug abuse throughout their pregnancy. They do not think ahead to the interminable damage that it could do to their fetus.The term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was coined in the 1960's to describe the pattern of the abnormalities found in some children born to alcoholic women (Clarren, 1981). It clearly was very evident and unique in respect to itself and was distinct from all other patterns of malformation in the fetus; there was a significant relationship found between the alcohol consumption rates during pregnancy and a lower general cognitive index of these children (Clarren, 1981). Being further studied in the 1970's under the heading as a birth defect that occurs, FAS was one of the most common causes of birth defects. Researchers held that it occurred in "almost 1 of every 500 to 1 in every thousan...