Recently, at least 30 infants across the US have been born with fetal fentanyl syndrome. Birth detects have become increasingly common and a research says this is because of fentanyl misuse. For those who don't know, Fetal fentanyl syndrome was initially defined by geneticists at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington, Delaware, who studied 10 babies with the same physical birth defects, including cleft palate, unusually small heads, drooping eyelids, and underdeveloped joints. Some also had trouble feeding.

Dr. Miguel Del Campo, a medical geneticist and infant addiction specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, while speaking to media said, "I have identified 20 patients. I fear that this is not rare, and I fear kids are going unrecognized.”

Although fentanyl use during pregnancy is known to cause other problems like preterm birth and stillbirth, not all babies exposed to fentanyl show these particular defects.

The findings indicate that babies with certain genetic vulnerabilities may be more likely to suffer from fentanyl-related birth defects. Medical professionals have called for further research and increased awareness to improve diagnosis and support for babies affected by fentanyl exposure.

Dr. Karen Gripp, a geneticist at Nemours, and her team were the first to identify the 10 babies with fetal fentanyl syndrome last fall. “This is another huge piece of the puzzle” explaining the defects, she said. The birth defects in these babies closely resemble a rare genetic condition called Smith-Lemli-Opitz. It is a rare condition that affects how fetuses make cholesterol.

When Gripp and a team of researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center exposed human and mouse cells to fentanyl, they observed that the drug directly disrupted their ability to make cholesterol.

“This is not something that people had known before, that fentanyl interferes so significantly with cholesterol metabolism,” Gripp said. “This is so important because cholesterol needs to be synthesized as the embryo develops.”

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