# Can a man contribute to fetal-alcohol syndrome?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-man-contribute-to-fetal-alcohol-syndrome/490289>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 21, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-man-contribute-to-fetal-alcohol-syndrome/490289 "2009-03-21T21:53:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Taipan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Taipan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taipan)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-man-contribute-to-fetal-alcohol-syndrome/490289/1 "2009-03-21T21:53:53Z")

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I’m wondering if a man’s sperm can be affected/damaged by consuming alcohol prior to having sex, and subsequently cause harm to the baby. I don’t know how long before ejaculation sperm is produced and stored. Suppose the guy is on a week-long bender up to and including the night when he has sex with a woman. Also suppose that she never drinks and has an otherwise healthy diet.

Is this baby likely to be born with any noticeable defects due to the father’s alcohol consumption?

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**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-man-contribute-to-fetal-alcohol-syndrome/490289/2 "2009-03-21T21:58:42Z")

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Only by driving the woman to drink. 🙂

FAS is only caused by the woman drinking - it is developmental damage, not genetic.

As I understand it, drinking to excess can harm the man’s sperm, but only in the sense that there will fewer of them and they’ll be less hardy. ([Healthy sperm: Improving your fertility - Mayo Clinic](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fertility/MC00023)). Thus, a hard drinker is less likely to make the woman pregnant, but not particularly likely to pass on some kind of defect.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-man-contribute-to-fetal-alcohol-syndrome/490289/3 "2009-03-22T08:56:38Z")

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There can be some effects of a father’s behavior prior to fertilization harming his children. Here’s a recent summary article from Science News on it:

[Dad’s Hidden Influence](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/9525/title/Dads_Hidden_Influence)