Do people with birth defects caused by a mother who used drugs cause permanent genetic errors all ...

Genetic errors occur during gamete production, i.e. during spermatogenesis or oogenesis. Once the zygote is formed during fertilization, teratogens may cause abnormalities to the fetus, therefore causes congenital abnormalities. These teratogen may damage the DNA, leading to defects in the final product. Chemicals or substances that cause damage to meiotic cells are called mutagens.

Thanks for the answer.

Btw... "These teratogen may damage the DNA, leading to defects in the final product."

So to be clear, when damage is done to the DNA, this can also cause the deformed child to pass down genetic defects to it's offspring and so on?

Also if you know, how much of a difference/what differences are the damage done between the use of crack, meth, heroin, and alcohol during embryonic/fetus development.

Hi again,

Because the fetus is composed of undifferentiated stem cells, direct damage to the DNA can be passed on to any cell that becomes it successor and so on, and be integrated in the person as a whole. Alcohol and cigarette smoke are common teratogens. Alcohol causes fetal alcohol syndrome.

Oh wow thanks for the answer. That's startling. Holy crap, that just means mothers who do drugs while pregnant are causing even more morally reprehensible damage than they themselves can even imagine.

My and my friend were talking about how drugs can kill people slowly. That's one thing, usually those people die later in life when they get older. However with this, it's wiping out entire bloodlines, or even worse, corrupting/passing down defected genes into the human genepool.

My curiosity about this topic is because I know a friend of mine who has some brain damage (but can still mostly function in society) due to her mother using drugs during pregnancy. She wants to have kids at some point and I was wondering if the genetic defects that she has would be passed down to her kids. So I'm going to make sure she's aware of this.

Which is sad to that it is in fact possible. Which just means that drug users who give birth to damaged children are helping collectively corrupt and damage the human genepool. I think it's more of a serious epidemic than people know about. Unless designer babies can become mainstream, and maybe even covered under insurance (or maybe some government programs to help correct these genetic defects) then humanity is going to get very bogged down with genetic defects. Long as it doesn't become illegal, humanity can divert a disaster waiting to happen.

Not necessarily. If she has brain damage - either from drug usuage during fetal development by her mother or as a result of hypoxia during birth (lack of oxygen, possibly as a result of delivery), that doesn't mean her eggs are genetically defective, in fact I'd rule it out completely. Her children will be normal as long as are reproductive organs are normal and as long as she has the appropriate number of chromosomes.

In addition, keep in mind that teratogens don't always affect all cells in the body. Take alcohol, for example. It causes brain damage in fetuses due to toxicity. However, these people will have perfectly normal children because their sperm would be normal. It's not affecting the genepool, because the damage is localized, for example in the brain.

Oh really? Okay, well how would you tell the difference if someone who was damaged via drugs during their mothers pregnancy?

Does it make a difference on what drug was used? Like... alcohol, meth, crack or heroin?
Also the stage of pregnancy?

The earlier the fetus is exposed to these drugs, the more profound the effect. You can tell someone has fetal alcohol syndrome by their symptoms. You can tell if someone has thalidomide poisoning based on their shortned limbs. You can tell somone who's austic versus someone with an extra chromosome too.