Tag: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
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FASD Respect Act: A Historic Win for Advocacy in 2025
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month 2025 will be one that goes down in history. This is the year that FASD Respect Act language is thisclose to being enacted by Congress. For the first time in twenty years, federal programs to address FASDs are moving towards being reauthorized, marking a renewed commitment to FASD-informed supports across…
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The Stigma of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Explained
Not every incidence of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) results in a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASDs). How can we get funders to understand this and reduce the stigma?
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FASD Awareness: Analyzing ‘Princess Margaret and the Curse’
I was so excited to read this new book, Princess Margaret and the Curse by Meryle Secrest, that asks us to consider whether Princess Margaret had fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. It came out on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day, which is the ninth day of the ninth month of the year, in a…
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Understanding FASD: Awareness Month Insights
It’s the first week of FASD Awareness Month, but not enough people know that. In fact, too few know that FASD stands for “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” and that no one in the US has FASD. Rather, they have AN FASD, because FASD is an umbrella term for the birth defects caused by prenatal alcohol…
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Research on Addiction Needs Added Oversight
Learning is good, but accepting all research as gospel is problematic, and the alternative — dismissing facts we don’t agree with — is equally harmful. Despite my sister saying I’m basically a one-trick pony, I’m passionate about a lot of topics, so I love knowing stuff and sharing it. That’s why I enjoy attending conferences…because…
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Understanding Fetal Fentanyl Syndrome: A Growing Concern
Prenatal Fentanyl Exposure is the latest in the list of drugs, including alcohol, of course, causing abnormalities among newborns. We first heard about Fetal Fentanyl Syndrome in 2023 (Science). In contrast, we first heard about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) in 1973, but later we learned about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders that don’t have the sentient…
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Prenatal Substance Exposure: A Growing Crisis
“Nearly 1 in 12 newborns in the United States in 2020 – or about 300,000 infants – were exposed to alcohol, opioids, marijuana or cocaine before they were born. Exposure to these substances puts these newborns at a higher risk for premature birth, low birth weight and a variety of physical and mental disabilities” (The Conversation). Unfortunately, this number…
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FASDs: Just Because We Don’t See Them Doesn’t Mean They’re Not There
Doctors can’t do it themselves. They need all of our help to educate about the harmful effects of PAE and diagnose FASDs.
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Silos Help No One
When NARCAN first started being supplied due to grant dollars, there was a lot of pushback about it. “Why should insulin be so expensive and NARCAN be free?” The truth is that NARCAN isn’t free; it’s paid for by our tax dollars, so that question should be “Why do we provide NARCAN but not insulin…
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