> "Robert J. Chassell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote, > >Actual but non-moral consequences also occur in > > the 'sins of the fathers (and mothers)' realm: > > congenital syphilis and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome > > come to my mind. > Good point. I wonder whether Fetal Alcohol Syndrome > helped push the notion?
One would surely think so, yet according to this site, FAS/FAE was not recognized as such until the 1970s. http://depts.washington.edu/fadu/ "It was January 1973...I had just finished administering a psychological examination to the seventh young child in the group that Jones and Smith, my dysmorphology colleagues (physicians with expertise in congenital malformations), had asked me to see. Although the seven children represented three racial groups and were not themselves related, they looked eerily alike...After weeks of intensely searching the national and international citations, I realized that Jones and Smith were right--the available medical literature in 1973 contained no information whatsoever about the effects of alcohol on pregnancy and the unborn child..." > How much alcohol causes the syndrome? Could watered > wine, such as the > ancient Greeks drank (like beer nowadays), cause the > syndrome? Wine > and beer are old, although distilled spirits are > not. (As far as I > know, they are post-Roman, Arabic.) I think of gin > and its > equivalents as causing fetal alcohol syndrome, but I > don't know > whether the dosages you can get from watered wine or > from beer have > the same effect. If so, then the ancient powers > that were -- the most > rich at the time -- would likely have suffered. It depends on the dose and timing of alcohol (the type doesn't matter except that you have to drink much more beer or wine to get the same dose in say vodka): no FAS babies have been born to women who drink 1 beer/day (or its equivalent in alcohol content, in several large studies), but binge drinking early in pregnancy (say 7 beers/evening, on weekends) might cause the visible syndrome or FAE (fetal alcohol effect, which has behavioral/intellectual manifestations without physical signs). All the GYNs I know advise their patients to avoid alcoholic drinks from before they attempt to get pregnant until after delivery, because it is unknown what dosage causes subtle damage (say knocking off a few IQ points, or slightly impairing 'executive functions' such as impulse control). OTOH, having a glass of wine or a beer a couple of nights before discovering that one is pregnant should not induce hysteria, as it is extremely unlikely that any measurable deficits will result. http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/FAS/FAS.html Mouse studies have found that pregnant females with blood alcohol levels of 0.07% causes some fetal brain cell death; 2 cocktails drunk over several hours can raise the BAL to this level in most women. http://www.nofas.org/healthcare/ > (This brings up another question: to what extent is > the claim that > rich and powerful Romans liked wine with lead salts > in them; and to > what extent did this hurt them? Certainly, I have > heard the stories, > but I do not know the extent of their truth.) Off the top of my head, what I remember hearing was that they liked the rather sweet taste lead imparted to wine, so wine was kept in lead-lined vessels...but I don't know how true that is either. There are studies showing that even low levels of lead have measurable, detrimental effects on children's brains/intellectual development (as low as 3-4 micrograms/dl; I posted several of these ~ a year ago), although definite lead poisoning occurs more at the 40-70 ug/dl range for adults (who are less sensitive than children to lead). Interestingly, lead poisoning was recognized by at least the 1700s. http://www.nsc.org/issues/lead/adultlead.htm Here is one of the CDC fact sheets on lead: http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/2nd/lead_factsheet.htm > Speaking of gin, I think I will have a gin and tonic > right now. It is > hot and humid, and the mosquitos are out, although I > doubt any this > far north carry malaria. (Anyhow, good reasons... :) Only West Nile virus, and Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, and... <doesn't bother ducking as it's too late> ;) Debbi who had a wheat beer at a barn-warming Sat. night __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
