Experts debate fetal alcohol syndrome test

Medical and legal communities are split over a new test that could determine whether a newborn baby has fetal alcohol syndrome.

The most common birth defect in Canada, Health Canada estimates that every day at least one child is born with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). It can lead to deformities, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, short attention span and memory problems.

Developed at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, the test analyses meconium, the baby's first bowel movement, for alcohol.

However, mothers at the highest risk of delivering a child with FAS often refuse the test.

The doctors who developed it say the test should be given whether the mother gives permission or not. Dr. Gideon Koren thinks early diagnosis will help children.

"A child who will not have a diagnosis, he or she may go a lifetime without mobilizing the help that you can give them, and that's bad news," said Koren.

However, others in the medical community and legal experts say the test creates serious ethical issues.

Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who sees many children with FAS in her courtroom, is worried about how the test information will be used.

"Will it be used to apprehend children? Are there human rights concerns? Are there legal questions that arise," said Turpel-Lafond.

Dr. Patricia Blakely says she's worried that the test could drive many mothers away from seeing doctors.

If women who abused alcohol felt that their baby could be taken from them if they deliver at a hospital, then it's likely they'll choose not to go to a hospital, said Blakely.