One point that is very well made and presented, is that of advising men to stop using alcohol and drugs at least three months before attempting to have children, and staying that way throughout the pregnancy or order to support the mother. It is a simply written and presented series of pages that are accessible and easily understood by all who chose to venture to this Internet site whatever their level, or lack of, education. Research on this subject appears to show that we are only just touching the edge of the ice-berg of what there is to know on the subject, and we have to find ways of getting that message out to the public. The work published by people such as Doctors Able and Cicero, has added to that awareness by writing in about the subject in ways that the average person can understand. The final series of articles put out by Alaska's Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse are the most readable and user friendly to understand of the four that I have written of here.
Statistics indicate that alcohol consumption is on the increase.
Yet our awareness of alcohol consumption, and the education of our expectant families,especially that of youth, primarily evolves around the mothers. Once these three factors are in place, awareness and eduction programs can be targeted to particular populations. At the moment, that 'awareness and education' is primarily aimed at females, or at least focused on reduction of alcohol use for females. Yet, there is a growing amount of evidence that suggests that male drinking may be just as likely as female drinking to cause damage to the fetus. AIDS seemed to only effect homosexuals, drug users, blacks, Hispanics, and others seen to be on the outer edges of the American dream.