Can a father cause FASD? Dr Raja Mukherjee answers

You can tweet Dr Mukherjee, @rajamukherjee10 if you have any questions.

Dr Raja Mukherjee: A very common question is ‘can a father cause Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders?’ The answer is no. What father does is that if he drinks heavily he passes on a genetic vulnerability, and so there is an influence that the father has, but it’s a vulnerability that the child has to the effects of the alcohol. Foetal Alcohol Syndrome really is the direct impact of alcohol on the child so it has to come from the mother’s drinking during the pregnancy. It’s called a teratogen. A teratogen is something you consume during the pregnancy that leads to the child being affected. Thalidomide is the one that most people are most familiar with.

So no, the father can influence the vulnerability of the child to have FAS but can’t cause FAS.