FASD Awareness Day

FASD AWARENESS DAY -- (Senate - September 08, 2006)

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth month, a day designated as International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Awareness Day. I rise today to state that it is imperative that we continue to spread the word that no amount of alcohol is safe to consume during the 9 months of pregnancy. By continuing to raise awareness, we can hopefully minimize the harm that drinking during pregnancy causes our most vulnerable population--our children.

In February of 1999, a small group of parents, raising children afflicted with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, set out to change the world. That small group started a support group which quickly became a worldwide grassroots movement to observe September 9 as International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day. This year, for the eighth consecutive year, events are occurring in cities and towns not just across the country but around the world.

In my State of Alaska, I am proud that events are occurring in Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. Citizens from my State are raising awareness about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy though a variety of events, such as passing out brochures with preventative messages to physicians' offices, delivering cocktail napkins to area bars with a message stamped on them that reminds pregnant women to not drink, and conducting high school assemblies which teach students about the dangers of alcohol on the developing fetus.

As we all know, FASD is 100 percent preventable, yet it remains a leading cause of nonhereditary mental retardation in the United States. Many children affected by maternal drinking during pregnancy have irreversible conditions--including severe brain damage--that cause permanent, lifelong disability.

Every year in America, an estimated 1 in every 100 babies is born with FASD--that is 40,000 infants. FASD affects more children than Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and muscular dystrophy combined.

In Alaska, we sadly continue to have the highest rate of FASD in the Nation. Approximately 163 Alaskan babies are born each year affected by maternal alcohol use during pregnancy. Among our Native communities, the rate of FASD can be 15 times higher than non-Native areas in the State.

Despite these troubling figures, FASD is still widely under diagnosed, misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all. Diagnosis is critical because many persons with FASD can overcome learning and behavioral problems and succeed but only with appropriate health, social, and educational resources.

The cost of FASD is high--more than $3 billion each year in direct health care costs. The indirect financial and social costs are also great--including the cost of specialized health care, education, job training, and general support services.

That is why prevention is so imperative. Prevention of FASD is seven times more cost effective than treating the disorder. But more importantly, abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy will save a family a lifetime of heartache and will prevent the greatest loss of all that of human potential.

Senator TIM JOHNSON and I have introduced the Advancing FASD Research, Prevention, and Services Act. Our bill will develop targeted State and community-based outreach programs and will improve current support services for families who are living with FASD. It will also improve coordination among Federal agencies involved in FASD treatment and research by establishing stronger communication with these programs. Lastly, it will strengthen educational outreach efforts to doctors, teachers, judges, and others whose work puts them in contact with people with FASD. I ask my colleagues to support the Advancing FASD, Research, Prevention and Services Act.

Mr. President, tomorrow, on Fetal Alcohol Awareness Day, let us pause to remember the innocent babies inflicted with this disorder and then let us imagine the potential that these babies could have attained but for the damage done by alcohol.

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