Based on the assumption of a 1-in-1,000 incidence rate among these birth cohorts (see chapter 4), there were an estimated 144,000 adult survivors of FAS in 1992 (ages 22 to 65). As discussed in chapter 4, many FAS victims suffer long-term developmental disabilities, hearing loss, and other physical ailments. The estimates in this section are updates of estimates provided by Harwood et al. (1984), with adjustments only for population growth and price change between 1980 and 1992. About 2.5 percent of FAS victims are severely mentally retarded, and labor force participation among even the mildly developmentally disabled is lower than among nondisabled persons. However, the large majority of FAS victims are assumed to experience only "minimal brain dysfunction" (52.5 percent) or mild mental retardation (37.5 percent), with assumed rates of productivity impairment of 10 and 25 percent, respectively. Adjusting for wage inflation since the last study of earnings among FAS survivors (Harwood and Napolitano 1985), it is assumed that in 1992, the average FAS survivor earned $6,900 less than non-FAS victims. Totaled across the adult population with FAS, it is conservatively estimated that FAS cost society $990 million through lost earnings.
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