From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!sdcsvax!sdchema!djo
Newsgroups: net.social
Title: Age Differences
Article-I.D.: sdchema.356
Posted: Sat Jan  8 14:31:33 1983
Received: Sun Jan  9 03:33:39 1983

I know that many doctors say that the risk of Down's Syndrome increases
sharply after the women is 35 but I do not agree.  The reasoning behind
this is they feel the fault lies in the old eggs in an older woman,
while sperm is manufactured new throughout a males life.  BUT, it is
all conjecture.  No one really knows why one chromosome is lost in
certain egg sperm unions.  And, doctors that are familiar with Down's
Syndrome and actually work with these children and their families will
admit this.  At Villa Esperanza School for the Developmentally
Handicapped in Pasadena, California, 85% of the mothers were 19-25
years old, during the time I lived in Pasadena and was involved with
the school.  For most of them it was their first child.  For all of
them it was a completely devastating experience.  The families all ask
WHY did it happen?  That is was the fault of old eggs just doesn't
make sense in a room full of young women.

There is also a hereditary strain of Down's Syndrome but I've never
had any contact with it.