From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 09:10:27 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 08:12:31 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal alcohol victims face discrimination: law professor Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803080800.03facab0@ncf.ca> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/fetal-alcohol-victims-face-discrimination/article1239601/ Globe & Mail National Fetal alcohol victims face discrimination Law professor says fetal alcohol spectrum disorder sufferers unfairly treated by courts Kirk Makin From Monday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Monday, Aug. 03, 2009 03:42AM EDT A steady stream of offenders suffering from a syndrome with no cure ? fetal alcohol spectrum disorder ? are being unfairly entangled in the criminal justice system, says a leading criminal law scholar. In an article scheduled for publication, University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach argues that the prosecution and imprisonment of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) victims flies in the face of a justice system predicated on punishing only those who intentionally break laws, or are legally at ?fault' for their actions. ?The cognitive deficits associated with FASD present a fundamental challenge to the standard assumptions of the Canadian criminal justice system,? he said. Victims of the disorder suffer permanent brain damage because of prenatal alcohol exposure. Prof. Roach said that the syndrome deprives them of conventional free will and a sense of individual responsibility. It also leaves them prone to memory loss and impulsivity, and they are easily influenced by others. Prof. Roach said that those with the syndrome get into considerably more trouble, yet typically refuse the help of legal counsel upon arrest and often give false confessions. ?One of the dangers of suggestibility of some people with FASD is that they may be persuaded to provide false confessions to the police,? Prof. Roach said. He said that this trait becomes even more hazardous in light of recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions that permit police to be ?persistent and suggestive? during interrogations. ?In some severe cases, defences are likely being ignored,? Prof. Roach added in an interview. ?In many other cases, inappropriate sentences are being applied.? Prof. Roach said that ignorance of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder also amounts to a form of racial discrimination, since it leads to the imprisonment of a disproportionate number of aboriginal people ? for whom alcohol consumption is a particular problem. In his article ? scheduled for publication in the next edition of the U.B.C. Law Review ? Prof. Roach said he found only 265 criminal court decisions that referred to the syndrome. That number is deplorably small, he said, considering an estimated two out of every thousand live births involves the syndrome. ?References to FASD in the reported cases vary dramatically among jurisdictions in Canada, with the most per capita references being made in the three northern territories and Saskatchewan, and with many of the most important decisions being made by a handful of judges,? Prof. Roach observed. One of these judges ? Ontario Court Judge Melvyn Green ? urged his colleagues recently to educate themselves about the syndrome: ?A judge wants to do the right thing,? he said, in a commentary posted on an FASD website. ?But a judge, like any mortal, can only work with what he's given,? Judge Green said. ?In too many cases, I suspect, judges are hamstrung because they're denied the information they need. This doesn't serve the interests of justice or the public or, perhaps most importantly, the interests of defendants with FASD who, far too often, find themselves in conflict with the law.? A 2003 Department of Justice study that sought information from every province and the territories about their FAS inmate population showed how little the problem is understood, Prof. Roach said in his law review article. ?It obtained a response that only 13 inmates of a total of 148,797 had a reported diagnosis of FAS,? he said. ?This figure is astoundingly low, and well below even the most conservative estimates of FAS in the general population.? Prof. Roach recommended that judges seriously consider whether FAS victims ought to be found unfit to stand trial. ?FASD should be considered at the early stages of the criminal process, and the buck should not be passed to the sentencing judge,? he said. ?The acceptance of false confessions or false testimony from people with FASD could result in miscarriages of justice.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/20bba419/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:20:30 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:22:10 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] 'I think this story needs to be told' Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212010.0452d898@ncf.ca> "...Mark Totten of the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, has identified a number of pathways that lead aboriginal youth to join gangs.... Secondly, there's cognitive impairment, sometimes caused by violent attacks or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.... www.theprovince.com The Province Vancouver, B.C. News 'I think this story needs to be told' William Wayne Cloud's father is searching for the truth about his 19-year-old son's death By Katie Mercer, The Province June 11, 2009 [Photo] William Cloud is working through his feelings of regret and guilt. Photograph by: Jon Murray; the Province, The Province William Wayne Cloud III lay on the cool bathroom floor as the blood pooling about him seeped into his clothing. "That sure is a lot of blood," he was overheard muttering quietly to himself. They were the 19-year-old's last words. What led to Cloud's death that February morning in an East Vancouver home isn't clear. People who have knowledge of the day's events are fearful for their safety -- and wary of publicizing any more of what they know. It's been nearly four months since Cloud died. He had been stabbed three times. No arrests have been made, no questions answered. "William carried a lot of pain. I just didn't know how to pry it out of him," his father, William Cloud, says solemnly. "I just think, I just think for someone to kill my son," he stutters. "I just have to trust the investigators will have us see justice. That's what I want. "I want to see this guy behind bars and serve out a life sentence for taking my son's life." That life was a troubled one. By three, he was living with his grandmother in Lillooet while his parents battled drug and alcohol addiction. When she couldn't care for him anymore, he started moving about to foster homes on the small reserve. Cloud was prone to running away, looking for his family or, by his teenage years, a good time in Vancouver. By age 13 he was drinking, sometimes heavily, and trouble started catching up to him after his foster parents charged him with breaking-and-entering into their home. "He was trying to get his hockey gear back . . . That haunted him ever since," says his dad. By 14, Cloud had been expelled from school and was on his way to being deemed a high-risk offender. Two years later, he was given an option: Jail or a four-month treatment program. "I remember we had just done the intake and were standing in my kitchen," says broadcaster Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, who took Cloud into her home as part of the PLEA Community Services Society of B.C.'s program. "I looked at his little face and he seemed so precious . . . I told him: 'This is going to be OK,' and he looked up at me and give me a little smile." Cloud had been diagnosed with an "oppositional defiant disorder," but the Thompson family saw no sign of it. They saw a lost boy with a cherubic face who in hushed tones would talk about gangs as if they were his family. In the past year, William was finally given a sense of normalcy when his father came back into his life full-time. With his dad clean and sober, William started turning his own life around. Then he hit a breaking point. His drinking increased and so did his association with an unsavory group of friends -- the Indian Posse, an aboriginal gang. The Indian Posse, or IP, were formed in 1988 in Winnipeg, Man. According to Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, the group engages in property theft, gambling, drug trafficking, marijuana cultivation and illegal firearms activities. They are also said to support and facilitate activities for the Hells Angels and Asian-based triads. Cpl. Mike Moyer, of the RCMP's Aboriginal Gang Unit, says police are seeing an influx of loosely organized groups such as IP and its rivals, Redd Alert, from the western provinces. "In 2006 we saw a murder in Fort St. John and that's the first time they came on the radar in B.C.," says Moyer, adding the groups are mostly found in the Interior. Moyer says aboriginal groups in B.C. have a more fluid membership, unlike the family dynamics of their counterparts in other provinces. Mark Totten of the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, has identified a number of pathways that lead aboriginal youth to join gangs. The first is "violentization" caused by neglect and physical, emotional and sexual abuse at home. Secondly, there's cognitive impairment, sometimes caused by violent attacks or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Then there's the issue of kids being bumped around in multiple placements in child welfare and correctional facilities, which can expose them to recruitment. There's also the issue of loss, which gives some youth a fatalistic outlook on life. "They know they're going to be dead at a very young age, so they've just given up," says Totten, who notes that suicide is far more common among aboriginal gang members than homicide. While the hunt for his son's killer continues, Cloud is working through his own feelings of regret and guilt and encouraging his son's friends to turn their lives around. He hopes to open a drop-in centre for young men and women like his son who "need direction, love, education, a bit of instruction and to forgive their parents for their pasts." While he waits for justice, Cloud plans on trying to find the answers to the unanswered questions about why his son died so needlessly. He's working with Thompson to produce a documentary of their search called Finding William's Truth. "I think this story needs to be told. I need for the world to understand these children," says Cloud. "These kids have potential. All they want to do is be loved." kmercer@theprovince.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/9e538af2/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:21:34 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:28:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Were our Forebears Aware of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and its Effects? Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212124.0452d4c0@ncf.ca> http://alcoholreports.blogspot.com/2009/06/were-our-forebears-aware-of-prenatal.html Alcohol Reports Saturday, June 27, 2009 Were our Forebears Aware of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and its Effects? A Review of the History of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Can J Clin Pharmacol Vol 16 (2) Summer 2009:e288-e295; Many historical records have been taken out of context when reviewing the history of prenatal alcohol exposure, and the impacts of these histories on modern-day FASD research have been overestimated. Historical records, as early as biblical times, do suggest at least a working awareness of an interaction between alcohol and reproduction of some kind. Contrary to assertions made in some fetal alcohol research, these records do not suggest an ancient awareness of the deleterious effects of alcohol on the developing fetus. Historical records regarding alcoholism and reproduction need to be interpreted critically, in context, and in consideration of the Zeitgeist, or the Spirit of the Times. ____________________________________________ Read Full Text (PDF) [Article by James L. Sanders, University of Alberta] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/75894967/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:22:27 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:28:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Facing a Crisis, Aborigines Stage Interventions of Their Own: Australia Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212216.0452d0e8@ncf.ca> "...Young women born with fetal alcohol syndrome are giving birth to babies with the same illness..." .http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/asia/05australia.html?_r=1&ref=global-home New York Times World July 5, 2009 Facing a Crisis, Aborigines Stage Interventions of Their Own By NORIMITSU ONISHI [Photo] Mick Benny, at right in hat, with other Aborigines at a pub in Fitzroy Crossing, Australia. He hopes that alcohol restrictions will change his son?s behavior. HALLS CREEK, Australia ? Since Halls Creek recently became the latest Aboriginal town in the Australian outback to restrict alcohol sales, its doctors and police officers have been getting more sleep thanks to a steep dropoff in nighttime brawls. The scores of Aboriginal men and women who milled around the one liquor store in the afternoon and proceeded, at dusk, to the pub across town are now gone. Some have decamped for the nearest towns with full access to alcohol, hundreds of miles away across a flat, shrub-covered land where the monotony is broken up only by the occasional giant baobab tree and kangaroo roadkill. Four decades after a constitutional amendment guaranteed equal rights for Australia?s Aborigines, including the right to legally drink, an increasing number of indigenous towns and smaller communities deep in the outback are curtailing the sale of alcohol. Many Aboriginal leaders say the restrictions are necessary to reverse the effects of a drinking culture that has led to widespread alcoholism, violence and child abuse. The self-restrictions here in Western Australia and other states reflect a tougher approach toward Aboriginal communities taken by the federal government in the past two years in the Northern Territory, a federal region with the country?s highest concentration of Aborigines. Called ?the intervention,? it has angered many Aboriginal people nationwide, especially older ones with direct experience of Australia?s colonial-like policies toward its indigenous people. ?We wanted to take control of the situation by speaking out, whereas the intervention in the Northern Territory was something that just came down on people,? said Doreen Green, 65, a primary school teacher and one of two Aboriginal women who led a campaign to restrict alcohol here. Until the 1960s, Australian governments tried to absorb Aborigines into the larger, European-based culture. In the most tragic policy of assimilation, state and church officials removed tens of thousands of Aboriginal children, often forcibly, from their families and placed them with white families or in institutions. But legal equality in 1967 ? along, eventually, with almost complete autonomy across territories ceded to Aboriginal communities ? did not translate into a better life for most Aborigines. As equal rights gave Aboriginal communities access to alcohol and semimonthly welfare payments, health and education standards have continued to decline over the decades. Life expectancy remains 17 years shorter than for other Australians. In 2007, the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard took back a lot of that autonomy in the Northern Territory, where it has greater authority than in the states, by seizing direct control over alcohol and welfare. That policy has been maintained by the liberal government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and applied by states. Western Australia recently started controlling welfare payments in some areas, including the heavily indigenous Kimberley region where Halls Creek is located. Welfare recipients suspected of child neglect can have 70 percent of their benefits restricted to paying for essentials like food, rent and utilities, a strategy intended to reduce their purchase of alcohol. ?Do we sit and watch another generation engage in alcohol abuse and petrol sniffing,? said Robyn McSweeney, the state?s minister of child protection, ?or should we be proactive and try and do something for the children now?? But the intervention has also spurred Aboriginal leaders outside the Northern Territory to curb alcohol on their own. In the past 18 months here in Western Australia, four towns and smaller communities have succeeded in persuading state officials to restrict the sale of alcohol or ban it outright, and four more have submitted requests for prohibition. More than 3,100 people live in Halls Creek, and an additional 1,000 reside in outlying villages. Though numbering only a few hundred, non-Aboriginal residents hold most of the visible jobs in government, administration and private businesses. About half of the town?s population has alcohol-related problems, including 300 to 600 people with serious health issues like brain damage, said David Shepherd, a senior doctor at Halls Creek Hospital. Young women born with fetal alcohol syndrome are giving birth to babies with the same illness. Halls Creek has been on a gradual decline since the 1960s, Ms. Green said. ?We know what life was like before alcohol,? she said. ?We had a proud race of people, very together people. Then alcohol just took over.? She and another indigenous woman who has fought for the rules, Robyn Long, 51, said the Aboriginal work ethic faded with the alcohol access and welfare payments. Families crumbled because of domestic violence. Ms. Long, an administrator at the Halls Creek Hospital, said she regularly saw ?women she grew up with coming to the hospital with broken bones.? Still, their efforts to restrict alcohol met resistance. ?Many wives were too frightened to speak out,? for fear of being beaten by their husbands, she said. Other people were reluctant to lose a right that had come with their equality in 1967. ?We fought so long and hard for our rights to be able to say this and do that,? said Jamie Elliott, 30, who runs an employment training program for Aboriginal youths and does not drink. ?Basically, for us to just hand those rights back, I thought, ?Come on, surely, there is an in-between.? ? Many felt this way because of the government?s intervention, which ?traumatized? many older indigenous people, said Peter Yu, an Aboriginal leader who led a government-appointed board to review the policy. ?People told us, ?We thought the days of the white man controlling us were gone,? ? he said. The intervention, however offensive to some, goaded Aboriginal leaders outside the territory to take action. ?What we saw happening in the Northern Territory made us think, ?Well, we need to do something about our situation as well,? ? said June Oscar, an Aboriginal woman who led the push for alcohol restrictions in Fitzroy Crossing, a town about 180 miles west of Halls Creek. According to government reports, crime and health problems have decreased in Fitzroy Crossing since it started restricting alcohol in late 2007. But opponents of the restrictions ? led by Leadal, an Aboriginal company that owns the town?s supermarket and two hotels where alcohol was served ? say the numbers are down simply because the hard-core drinkers have left town. ?The government has to be seen doing something,? said Patrick Green, the chairman of Leadal, adding that drinkers also spent more because they could now drink full-strength alcohol only at the hotel pubs. On one recent afternoon, the Crossing Inn pub in Fitzroy Crossing was filled with a few dozen Aboriginal men and women. Most grumbled about having to pay almost $5 for a can of beer. But one customer, Mick Benny, a retired rancher in his late 50s, had more complicated feelings. Mr. Benny, a member of the ?stolen generations? who was raised in a Roman Catholic mission after being removed from his family as a child, hoped that the rules would change his son?s behavior. ?My son takes too much of the grog,? Mr. Benny said, referring to alcohol. ?So my grandchildren go to school once in a while. I?d rather see them go to school every day. I want them to get the same kind of education I got.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/64a8f587/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:23:32 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:28:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] 14-month jail sentence for man on break and enter, probation charge: B.C. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212322.03db2150@ncf.ca> "...'I do realize what I'm doing is wrong," he said. "It's because of the fetal alcohol syndrome that I keep doing it. I'm seriously tired of it and want to stop.'..." www.canada.com 14-month jail sentence for man on break and enter, probation charges Comox Valley Echo July 3, 2009 A 29-year-old man who stole from his own family has been sent to jail for 14 months. Clifford James Dean Clayton was arrested on May 29, four days after he was released from jail on a drug possession charge. According to Crown prosecutor Robert Richardson, in the early morning hours on that date Clayton broke into his mother's home and stole money from his brother. He then left the residence, got in his mother's car and drove away. He was pulled over and arrested when spotted later that day on the 17th Street Bridge. Besides the break and enter, the incident also breached conditions of Clayton's probation, which required him to be confined to his home between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. According to defence lawyer Eric Chesterley, the reason Clayton was out during the night was that he was staying at the local shelter but showed up a little after 9 p.m., when its doors are locked. "That, of course, meant that he didn't have a place to stay that night," said Chesterley. Chesterley said his client suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, making him impulsive and easily led. "I'm not saying there shouldn't be a consequence," said Chesterley. "But it was an impulsive act given he was locked out of the shelter." Clayton told the court that he wants to get into treatment and deal with his substance abuse issues. "I do realize what I'm doing is wrong," he said. "It's because of the fetal alcohol syndrome that I keep doing it. I'm seriously tired of it and want to stop." Richardson noted that Clayton has 43 prior convictions on his record, including nine break and enters, as he asked for the maximum provincial jail time of two years less a day -- the same sentence Clayton received the last time he broke into a home. Richardson noted that given the step-up principle, he could have asked for four years in a federal penitentiary. "I wish the step-up principle worked, then we could use it every time," said Judge William Jack. "With deference to the Court of Appeal, the step-up principle doesn't work to deter offenders." Jack sentenced Clayton to 16 months jail less two months credit for one month spent in pre-trial custody. He also placed Clayton on 16 months probation and ordered him to attend counseling as directed. When released, Clayton will remain on a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew for the first six months of probation. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/c71641ab/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:24:01 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:28:19 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Toomey back in court Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212352.03db2008@ncf.ca> "...Toomey said he was concerned about spending that much time in custody because he was recently diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and had a seizure a few days before being picked up the RCMP...." http://www.highrivertimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1645476 High River Times High River, Alberta Local News Toomey back in court Crown wants to revoke release Posted By Evan Careen TIMES REPORTER Posted 24 days ago [as of Aug. 1, 2009] A High River man who pleaded guilty in May to robbing the High River Liquor Store was back in court Friday. Andrew Donald Toomey, 26, was placed on a Community Sentence Order (CSO), a form of house arrest for 12 months. The CSO comes with a number of conditions, including a curfew and abstaining from alcohol. Toomey was arrested Thursday night at 11:15 p.m. and was drunk. The court heard Friday he could not appear before a justice of the peace at that time because he was too intoxicated. He is also on bail for armed robbery charges relating to a hold-up of the Aldersyde Petro-Canada, where he is alleged to be the wheelman in the robbery. Crown prosecutor Doug Simpson told Judge Judith Shriar the Crown would be seeking to revoke Toomey's release and hold him in custody until his trial on June 16 and 17, 2010. Toomey is co-accused in that matter with Ward Gervias, also of High River. Both men are being charged with robbery and being disguised with intent to commit an indictable offense. Toomey said he was concerned about spending that much time in custody because he was recently diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and had a seizure a few days before being picked up the RCMP. The judge assured him that if he made staff at the Remand Centre aware of his condition it could be handled in the detention centre. The matter was adjourned until today to give Toomey a chance to get in contact with his lawyer, Paul Gracia. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/17d0d3cd/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:24:49 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:28:22 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Dumber than a rabbit with fetal alcohol syndrome Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212428.03db23e0@ncf.ca> [This article is not about FASD.] "...the stunning visuals that Transformers 2 provides can not overcome the fact that it is dumber than a rabbit with fetal alcohol syndrome...." http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N29/transformers.html The Tech online edition MIT [Massachussets Institute of Technology] Boston MOVIE REVIEW ? Yeah, Smashy-Smashy, Whatever, So Over It By Kevin Wang STAFF WRITER July 8, 2009 Transformers 2 Director: Michael Bay Starring: Shia LaBoeuf, Megan Fox Rated PG-13 Now Playing Watching Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is a bit like seeing a plane full of bacon and supermodels smash into a fireworks factory: Even though the explosions are awesome and there are awesome things everywhere, it is still pretty much a tragedy. As Shia LaBoeuf himself has found time and time again, looking good does not really compensate for being excessively dumb. Transformers 2 continues the story of Sam Witwicky (Shia Laboeuf) and his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). They are dealing with the typical pressures of college, such as long- distance relationships and homicidal robots for friends. After the teen movie preliminaries have ended, the film quickly degenerates into standard Michael Bay fare. Bay gleefully drop-kicks ?plot coherence? and ?realistic dialogue? out the window in favor of fireballs and Megan Fox bending over more often. A number of bad-guy robots descend on earth, prompting Sam and company to embark on a worldwide search for hidden alien artifacts before concluding with the now-traditional destruction of a Middle Eastern city. The plot is completely incoherent throughout, and the dialogue waffles continuously between lines from Twilight and ramblings of a deranged crackhead. If Transformers was the insult to the world?s collective intelligence, then Transformers 2 is the corresponding bitch-slap. Bay appears to be engaged in a desperate race against himself to produce the most stupid movie possible, and there is no question that he is winning. Michael Bay?s plot writing in the Transformers series is a bit like soiling yourself in a public place: we can all accept that there might have been legitimate reasons the first time, but doing it over and over again is just not acceptable. Plot aside, however, Transformers 2 does deliver on all of its promises. In the world of eye candy, Transformers 2 is a 600-pound gummy bear. The movie is essentially a U.S. Army recruitment commercial, and features scene after glorious scene of tanks, airplanes, and robots blowing each other away. One particularly epic action sequence, in which more than six gigantic robots fight hand-to-hand in a forest, should be used as a substitute for Viagra (and should come with the same medical warnings). While its PG-13 rating prevents us from seeing any of the really good stuff (robots eating school buses, robots leveling cities, Megan Fox earning her paycheck), it?s hard not to feel a twinge of glee when a Transformer blasts a hole through an aircraft carrier or eats one of the Great Pyramids. Despite being a huge fan of the franchise and the first movie, I cannot unconditionally endorse Transformers 2 in good conscience. Much like entrapping children by offering them candy, awesome robotic violence is much less effective the second time around. Moreover, its exhausting 150-minute running time is simply too much, far too long. You don?t really watch Transformers 2 in the normal sense of the word; the experience is more like being beaten into submission while somebody slowly runs your brain through a blender. While that does sound pretty badass, in reality, it is completely exhausting. The novelty of huge robots shooting missiles at each other has worn off a bit, highlighting the fact that the rest of the franchise is held together by the sheerest of scotch tape. Overall, the stunning visuals that Transformers 2 provides can not overcome the fact that it is dumber than a rabbit with fetal alcohol syndrome. Although I dreamed that its graphics would be so astounding that I could cope with the meaningless dialogue and absurd plot there just was not enough samurai robot beheadings. If you are going to watch Transformers 2 see it because you simply can?t watch robots eviscerate each other in slow motion anywhere else. Otherwise, Transformers 2 is an R rating short of a good movie, and you probably shouldn?t waste your money. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/859169f4/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:25:54 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:28:24 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Aboriginal women angry at MP's move against alcohol ban: Australia Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212544.0452d230@ncf.ca> "..'I say to them: What about the rights of unborn babies and children, who are suffering with fetal alcohol syndrome?'.." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25759110-5006789,00.html The Australian The Nation Aboriginal women angry at MP's move against alcohol ban Debbie Guest | July 10, 2009 Article from: The Australian SENIOR Aboriginal women in Halls Creek are outraged that the only indigenous woman in the West Australian parliament is petitioning against alcohol restrictions credited with transforming the town plagued by fetal alcohol syndrome. Labor's Carol Martin, whose electorate of Kimberley covers Halls Creek, plans to table a petition in state parliament later this year against the full-strength alcohol restrictions. She has reportedly said they were not working because they simply sent problem drinkers to other towns. Alcohol restriction campaigner Doreen Green said that since the ban was implemented in May, Halls Creek had been given a new lease on life, children felt safer and domestic violence incidents were down. "Now you see children in the park kicking a football," Ms Green said. "Before the ban, there were drunks lying around from the night before." She said Ms Martin had not discussed the ban with senior women in the town, and called for the MP to resign or be sacked from the Labor Party. In response to claims that the alcohol restrictions were a breach of human rights, Ms Green had a simple message. "I say to them: What about the rights of unborn babies and children, who are suffering with fetal alcohol syndrome? What about the rights of women who have been bashed, and grandmothers who have to bear the brunt of pain?" Halls Creek Hospital acting senior medical officer David Shepherd said 25 per cent fewer patients had been admitted to the hospital since the full-strength ban was introduced and 40 per cent fewer children had been admitted. He said fewer children were being admitted for respiratory tract problems, stomach bugs and what doctors called "a failure to thrive". Ms Martin could not be contacted yesterday. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/cef7191c/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:27:22 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:34:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol syndromes in newborns continue to be a problem: U.S. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212713.0452ce58@ncf.ca> "...It is estimated that about 1 percent of children born today will fall somewhere in the range of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)...." http://www.eagletribune.com/pulife/local_story_191002811.html?keyword=secondarystory The Eagle Tribune Online North Andover, MA Published: July 10, 2009 12:28 am Alcohol syndromes in newborns continue to be a problem Take The First Step Dr. Michael Levy Can you tell me if marijuana is addicting? Some people say it is, but I know others who say it isn't. I also know people who use it occasionally and never seem to be addicted to it. To answer this question, I need to first define addiction to a drug, which is when individuals use a drug compulsively despite it causing problems for them. With that definition, marijuana has the potential to be very addicting. There are people who begin to smoke marijuana and their use of it eventually becomes a central preoccupation in their lives. In fact, marijuana use can become so compulsive that it is smoked daily and individuals begin to neglect or lose interest in other important things, whether this is school, work or other relationships. In addition, there are people who report that they cannot cut down their use or stop smoking it, despite wanting to do that. You are also correct that some people use it occasionally and smoking marijuana does not become a central preoccupation in their lives. However, this is true for many drugs in that not everyone who uses the drug becomes addicted. Let's take alcohol, for example: Some people drink socially and the use of alcohol never becomes problematic for them. Others, however, start using it heavily and compulsively, and become addicted to it. Many people also wonder if marijuana causes physical dependence. That is, when a person stops using it, will that person experience a withdrawal syndrome? Research has shown that while many individuals can abruptly stop using marijuana without experiencing significant withdrawal, others report some withdrawal symptoms that include anxiety, irritability, and some mental confusion. It should be remembered that whether or not a drug causes a withdrawal syndrome is not the criteria that should be used to determine whether a drug is or is not addicting. For example, individuals addicted to cocaine do not experience severe withdrawal when they stop using, yet cocaine is highly addicting. So, in answer to your question, some individuals who smoke marijuana do become addicted to it, although it is also true that there are people who use marijuana who never become addicted. Is fetal alcohol syndrome still a problem today? I ask because there has been so much information given about the dangers of drinking while pregnant, so I am wondering if this is still problem. Unfortunately, drinking during pregnancy is still a problem in this country. It is estimated that about 1 percent of children born today will fall somewhere in the range of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). This is not fetal alcohol syndrome, which shows the common facial traits of thin upper lip, eyes appearing wide part, flattened mid-face, and some minor ear abnormalities. Rather, children with FASD will typically exhibit signs of mental deficits, such as difficulties with learning, attention, memory, and problem solving, as well as experiencing some difficulties with coordination, speech, and possible hearing impairments. Researchers state that the physical changes seen with fetal alcohol syndrome emerge only if drinking occurs during certain periods during pregnancy. However, with the mental difficulties associated with FASD, the brain may be susceptible to alcohol as soon as development begins. So in answer to your question, drinking during pregnancy is still a concern, and physicians are encouraged to consistently speak with their patients about this to educate women about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy. Send questions about addictions or related problems to: Take The First Step, c/o The Eagle-Tribune, 100 Turnpike St., North Andover, MA 01845; or send e-mail to michael_levy@cabhealth.org. Questions will be answered in confidence by a clinical team led by Dr. Michael Levy, director of clinical treatment services at CAB Health & Recovery Services in ? and author of "Take Control of Your Drinking...and You May Not Need to Quit." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/e6787311/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:28:50 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:34:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Is drinking while pregnant a special problem here? California Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803212840.03db2670@ncf.ca> http://www.newtimesslo.com/news/2945/is-drinking-while-pregnant-a-special-problem-here/ New Times San Luis Obispo, California News The following article was posted on July 15th, 2009, in the New Times - Volume 23, Issue 50 Is drinking while pregnant a special problem here? Despite County statistics about imbibing, there's no high incidence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome BY KYLIE MENDONCA No amount of alcohol consumption is safe for pregnant women, according to the U.S. Surgeon General?s guidelines. It?s a message that has been printed on the label of every bottle of wine or whiskey in the country for the last 10 years. And since the early ?70s, alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been No amount of alcohol consumption is safe for pregnant women, according to the U.S. Surgeon General?s guidelines. It?s a message that has been printed on the label of every bottle of wine or whiskey in the country for the last 10 years. And since the early ?70s, alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been definitively linked to a specific group of birth defects including physical abnormalities, distinct facial features, stunted growth, memory problems, learning disabilities, even mental retardation in severe cases. A recent study the SLO County Health Agency publicized found more local women drink while pregnant than pregnant women elsewhere. Agency officials say the county is ?one of the top problem areas in the nation for alcohol consumption during pregnancy.? The statement is based on San Luis Obispo County rating the highest among 20 other counties surveyed in the state, as well as counties surveyed in several other states. ?We have doctors that are still saying it?s OK to have a drink once a day,? said SLO County Public Health Nurse Jan Campbell. ?I think that?s very dangerous, because we just don?t know how it?s going to affect the child. It depends on so many factors to me, it?s like playing Russian roulette.? In a June press release, the Public Health Department said the study found 37 percent of the women surveyed drank alcohol at some time during their first 12 weeks of pregnancy before they knew they were pregnant, and that 23 percent reported drinking alcohol after they knew they were pregnant. But the actual data from the survey?which included 6,703 women over a five-year span?does not seem to support those statements. The study data, provided to New Times, shows 16.6 percent of women reported consuming alcohol after they knew they were pregnant, and fewer than 30 percent drank alcohol before they knew they were pregnant. Campbell said the press release numbers may have been based on older data. The survey suggested that it is not for lack of prenatal treatment or lack of education that women drink while pregnant. The study said most of the drinkers are well-educated, white women with good incomes and access to health care. So why are they choosing to ignore the Surgeon General?s recommendations? ?For us, I can almost guarantee it?s the wine,? Campbell said. In other words, many people in wine country simply take a different approach to the public health efforts to stamp out all drinking during pregnancy. The county Public Health Department doesn?t collect data on the number of fetal alcohol cases in the county and neither does the Centers for Disease Control, so there is no immediate way to know whether SLO County has an epidemic to match the study?s findings. Anecdotally, there is no indication that SLO has a high rate of fetal alcohol syndrome. Ron Yukelson, a spokesman for Sierra Vista Hospital, which has the county?s neonatal intensive care unit, said fetal alcohol syndrome is very rare locally. Nationally, CDC studies estimate the rate of fetal alcohol syndrome ranges from 0.2 to 1.5 per 1,000 live births in different areas of the United States. The rates vary based on socioeconomic factors, regional factors, and race. National statistics show about 20 percent of women who are known to be pregnant continue to drink during their pregnancy. The incidence of drinking during pregnancy has increased substantially in the past several years, possibly due to a media focus on the idea that light-to-moderate drinking can be healthy. National studies suggest that educated white women who have money are the most likely population to drink during pregnancy but that same demographic is not the most likely to have a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Moderate drinking during pregnancy reflects European sentiment. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, a British organization, recommends, ?If you do drink, you should not drink more than a safe amount, which is defined as not more than one or two units, not more than once or twice per week.? Many European countries, where alcohol consumption is more prevalent among pregnant women, report lower rates of fetal alcohol syndrome than in the U.S. A peer-reviewed paper published in the Oxford University Press, described an ?American Paradox? and a ?French Paradox? whereby the high incidence rate of fetal alcohol syndrome in America does not correspond to the relatively low rate of alcohol consumption among pregnant women, and the high rate of consumption among French women does not seem to result in a high rate of diagnosed fetal alcohol syndrome among French children. That?s not to discount the seriousness of fetal alcohol syndrome. The CDC calls it the number one most common cause of mental retardation that is completely preventable. The problem in educating women about drinking during pregnancy is there have not been any studies to determine exactly how many drinks and in what circumstances lead to fetal alcohol syndrome. Thus, the Surgeon General has taken the safest approach with the available knowledge: zero drinks during pregnancy to ensure children are born healthy. Campbell said alcohol-related problems are more common than reported. She said it?s more accurate to consider fetal alcohol syndrome a disorder that manifests anywhere on a spectrum, so even if a child exposed to alcohol is not severely disabled, they still may suffer setbacks as a result of exposure. Campbell said symptoms can range from attention deficit disorder to general behavioral problems. The CDC estimates that as many as 4.5 children in 1,000 could be suffering from disorders as a result of alcohol exposure in the womb. Beyond the spectrum theory, Campbell said fetal alcohol syndrome is often misdiagnosed, or not diagnosable until a child is school-aged, when more advanced cognitive skills are needed. ?I think there?s enough research to say that drinking alcohol during pregnancy causes fetal alcohol syndrome,? Campbell said. ?It?s the safest thing to say there is no safe amount.? Kylie Mendonca can be reached at kmendonca@newtimesslo.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/d0e0d8a3/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:30:13 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:34:19 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal Alcohol Disorders vs. ADHD: Which Kids Act Out More Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213003.0452c7f0@ncf.ca> http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/GeneralPsychiatry/15100 Medpage Today Medical News: General Psychiatry Fetal Alcohol Disorders vs. ADHD: Which Kids Act Out More By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: July 16, 2009 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner AUDIO REPORT Rachel Greenbaum Psychologist Children's Mental Health Team Surrey Place Center, Toronto Medpage TODAY LITTLE FALLS, N.J., July 16 -- Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) have more severe behavioral problems than children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), researchers said. They have significantly weaker social cognition and emotion-processing abilities, Rachel Greenbaum, PhD, at the University of Toronto, and colleagues reported online in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. "Behaviorally, FASDs and ADHD can look quite similar, particularly with respect to problems with very limited attention, physical restlessness, and extreme impulsivity," Greenbaum said. However, she said, social deficits in children with neurodevelopmental disorders may have different underlying mechanisms. Some previous research has suggested that children with FASDs and ADHD have differences in phenotype from children who have only ADHD. However, this has not previously been studied, the researchers said. Action Points ---------- * Explain that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders have weaker social cognition and emotion-processing abilities than those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. * Note that the findings suggest different neuroanatomical differences between the two disorders, and further research needs to be done. So to compare children with the two conditions in terms of social cognition and emotion processing, the researchers looked at 97 children ages 6 to 13 -- 33 with FASDs, 30 with ADHD, and 34 normal controls. All the children completed tasks of social cognition and emotion processing. Their parents and teachers rated behavior and social skills using questionnaires. The researchers found that in the FASDs group, 76% of children were reported to have one or more co-morbid conditions, compared with 33% in the ADHD group. The difference was significant (at P<0.001) but it stemmed largely from the fact that children in the FASDs group had both FASDs and ADHD. The researchers found that children with FASDs performed significantly worse than both controls and those in the ADHD group on tests of social cognition and emotional processing. Parents of children with FASDs reported behavioral problems but normal social skills, while teachers reported both behavioral problems and deficient social skills. However, overall, teachers reported more problems in children with FASDs than ADHD. The results suggest that the two conditions may be distinct and have different neuroanatomical underpinnings, the researchers said. "The observed absence of social cognition deficits in . . . children with ADHD kids raises the question of whether the deficits underlying their poor social skills are qualitatively different and involve different mechanisms than those underlying deficient social skills in FASDs," they said. One of the key differences appears to be in the inability of children with FASDs to interpret the mental states of others and identifying emotions in the faces of others (P<0.05 for both). One region of the brain involved in the difference may be the orbitofrontal cortex, which has been found to be smaller in children with FASDs, the researchers said. They noted that the study may have been limited because it could not control for the dose and timing of alcohol exposures, nor could it control for covariates such as maternal nutrition, prenatal care, quality of the home environment, and parents' confounding psychiatric disorders. Still, the researchers concluded that the study "found key differences in social cognition and emotional processing between children with FASDs and ADHD" -- differences that did not exist between the children with ADHD and the controls. Since the differences may stem from abnormal neuroanatomical networks, the researchers called for further study of the morphological abnormalities "using advanced MRI techniques." The researchers reported no conflicts of interest. Primary source: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research Source reference: Greenbaum RL, et al "Social cognitive and emotion processing abilities in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: A comparison with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2009; 33(10): DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2009.01003.x. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/51a0eae2/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:31:03 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:34:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Have More Severe Behavioral Problems Than Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213054.0452c560@ncf.ca> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090716164335.htm Science Daily Science News Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Have More Severe Behavioral Problems Than Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Study Finds ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) ? Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) have a high risk of psychiatric problems, particularly attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, or both. Often children with FASD are initially diagnosed with ADHD. A new study is the first to examine a range of cognitive factors and social behavior in children with FASD and ADHD, finding that those with FASD have significantly weaker social cognition and facial emotion-processing abilities. Results will be published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. "Behaviorally, FASD and ADHD can look quite similar, particularly with respect to problems with very limited attention, physical restlessness, and extreme impulsivity," explained Rachel Greenbaum, a clinical psychologist with the Children's Mental Health Team at Surrey Place Centre in Toronto, who conducted the study as part of her doctoral dissertation. "However, social deficits in children with neurodevelopmental disorders may have different underlying mechanisms," noted Piyadasa W. Kodituwakku, associate professor of pediatrics and neurosciences at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "For example, children with ADHD experience social problems because of poor self-regulation rather than deficient knowledge of appropriate social behavior. In other words, a child with ADHD may accurately recite social rules, but fail to apply them. In contrast, social difficulties in a child with autism may result from a fundamental deficit in social sense, referred to as mind-blindness. Thus, when delineating qualitative differences in social phenotypes of neurodevelopmental disorders, it is important to assess not only observable behaviors, but also their underlying cognitive mechanisms." This study looked specifically at social-cognition and emotion-processing abilities, said Joanne Rovet, a professor at the University of Toronto and senior scientist in neurosciences and mental health at the Hospital for Sick Children, and supervisor of the fetal alcohol research program. "'Social cognition' refers to the ability to consider and differentiate between the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and intentions of oneself and others," said Rovet, who is also the study's corresponding author. "This involves understanding the meaning of social information and knowing how to interact appropriately. These abilities are important for communicating and relating successfully with others. 'Emotion processing' refers to understanding and processing information related to feelings. This includes the ability to recognize and differentiate between varied emotions in others and in oneself. These skills are also important for relating and communicating socially with other people." Greenbaum and her colleagues recruited three groups of children ? 33 (16 boys, 17 girls) with FASD, 30 (24 boys, 6 girls) with ADHD, and a "normal" control group of 34 (18 boys, 16 girls) ? from a pre-existing data pool, clinics, communities, and schools in the greater Toronto area. The mean age was 9.2, 9.3 and 8.9 years, respectively. All completed tasks were designed to measure social cognition and emotion processing. Additionally, parents and teachers used standard questionnaires and scales to assess the children's behavioral problems and social skills. "Our findings show that overall, children with FASD have more severe behavioral problems," said Rovet. "In terms of social cognition and emotional processing, the core deficit in FASD appears to be in understanding and interpreting another's mental states and emotions." Rovet added that a "profile" of children with FASD would include items such as high distractibility and restlessness, as well as behaviors often described as "out of control" and juvenile. "Based on previous work from our lab, children and adolescents with FASD were more likely than children with ADHD to engage in antisocial behaviors, such as cheating, stealing and acting young, as well as sociopathic behaviors including lying and stealing," she said. "Importantly, the findings from our present study, specifically the significant differences in social cognition and emotional processing between children with FASD and ADHD, may underlie the severe conduct problems observed in children prenatally exposed to alcohol." "In other words," said Kodituwakku, "children with FASD and ADHD have social difficulties, but what is contributing to these difficulties may be different. For example, a child with ADHD may be able to predict how another child would feel in a certain situation, but he or she may do something to hurt that child's feelings despite this ability. On the other hand, a child with FASD may do something to hurt someone else's feelings because of an inability to appreciate that person's reactions. This difference has implications for the development of social-skills training programs. That is, a training program designed for a child with ADHD may include procedures targeting how to translate what the child already knows into actions, while a program designed for a child with FASD may address both building specific cognitive skills and practicing appropriate actions." "One of the major contributions of this study pertains to understanding what children with FASD look like from a truly clinical perspective," said Greenbaum, "helping to clarify for clinicians trying to diagnose and treat them the full extent and specific nature of their previously unidentified problems, thus extending treatment possibilities that may help alleviate some of their more debilitating antisocial and behavioral problems." One finding with potential for immediate action was that children with FASD have difficulty interpreting social information, including emotions in faces, said Rovet. "These difficulties predict their behavior problems and are linked to their social development," she emphasized. "It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions to deal with their unique deficits." ---------- Adapted from materials provided by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. Email or share this story: | More Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats: APA MLA Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (2009, July 20). Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Have More Severe Behavioral Problems Than Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Study Finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 2, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com? /releases/2009/07/090716164335.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/7d4feb10/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Aug 2 12:22:23 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:34:24 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New hope for 'invisible disability': Alaska Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090802111812.039774d0@ncf.ca> http://www.homernews.com/stories/071509/news_1_008.shtml HomerNews.com Homer, Alaska Local Stories Story last updated at 7:52 PM on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 New hope for 'invisible disability' BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG STAFF WRITER In the over 35 years since the effect of alcohol on the brain has been recognized as a developmental disability, fetal-alcohol research has progressed dramatically. Doctors, psychologists, counselors and teachers now understand that if diagnosed early, and if they receive proper care and counseling, children born with what's now called fetal-alcohol spectrum disorder can learn to live productive lives. Formerly known as fetal-alcohol syndrome or fetal-alcohol effect, specialists now think of FASD as a range of cognitive impairments. Scientists also have changed their thinking about the effect of alcohol on the developing fetus, especially the brain. Where before some doctors thought small amounts of booze might not be harmful, that has changed. "A little bit of alcohol makes a big difference," said Deb Evensen of Homer, a counselor working in FASD treatment. "It's the strongest, most damaging teratogen we know of." One glass of wine, for example, can kill 10,000 developing brain cells. Because the child's brain keeps growing, the loss of those brain cells means future brains cells that will never grow. "You lose the potential of those hundreds of thousand of cells that are supposed to develop out of those cells," she said. Next Wednesday, Evensen and Dr. Phil Mattheis, a nationally recognized FASD specialist, present "Practical Solutions for Kids and Adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders." From 10 a.m.-noon they speak at the Kachemak Bay Campus. Consultations by appointment are available from 1-4 p.m. While FASD might be easily recognizable in some children through signs like facial deformities, in many children FASD goes undiagnosed. Children who act immature or who have attention problems might be thought to have other issues. Diagnosing FASD isn't always easy, but is critical. "It's a cognitive difference that has to be addressed," Evensen said. "It's really different. Our system hasn't been taught to deal with them." Evensen calls FASD an invisible disability. "We have been addressing the disabilities we can see. We can take the next step and address the disabilities that are invisible," she said. Helping children with FASD often means giving them life coaching. FASD children sometimes have trouble remembering things, or making connections. A child asked to pick out clothes to wear might get frustrated choosing from a closet of clothes. "They need somebody -- a loving counselor," said Gloria Stuart, the Homer FASD parent advocate with Frontier Training Center, Soldotna. While children might get support through middle school, often that gets lost in high school or adulthood. FASD adults have poor judgment skills, and sometimes unknowingly commit crimes. They can do OK in the structure of a prison, but lose that support system when released. Many FASD adults wind up homeless. Just surviving can be a challenge -- and an achievement. Evensen told of a homeless man with FASD who she took to lunch. She held his hands and told him, "I want to tell you I know how hard you're working. I think you're a giant success. I honor you." With care and counseling, FASD adults can live productive, independent lives. "I have so many happy stories," Evensen said. "It's the kids who understand they have a disability." FASD is a 100-percent preventable disability solved by a simple practice: don't drink during pregnancy, or if you're thinking of getting pregnant or might get pregnant. Men -- even whole cultures -- can show support for sober women by being sober themselves. Women who have FASD children might feel guilt or shame. The healing begins with the mother addressing and diagnosing her child's disability. "It's the first step in healing," Evensen said. "We have to address what is. Nobody does it on purpose. We have to address this other issue not by blaming her but supporting her," she added. Dealing with FASD begins with diagnosis, Evensen keeps saying. In Homer, diagnosis can be done through Frontier Training Center. Once a diagnosis is made, helping families and children understand the disability is the next step. After that, they need to develop lifelong support networks and tools. Sometimes that can be a loving spouse, Stuart said. "The solutions to dealing with FASD is science, but it's not rocket science," Evensen said. "They fall through the cracks. We plug the cracks." For more information on the conference or diagnosing FASD, call Stuart at 235-2898. Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong.@homernews.com. From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:32:47 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:34:26 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Will kids be at risk? Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213231.0452cbc8@ncf.ca> http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/will-kids-be-at-risk-210930.html Springfield News-Sun Springfield, Ohio News - Local News Will kids be at risk? State cuts threaten special needs programs By Bridgette Outten, Staff Writer 8:43 PM Saturday, July 18, 2009 In some ways, Tonya Johnson is considered a miracle child. A victim of fetal alcohol syndrome and ongoing abuse, her vocabulary was limited to about a dozen words, and she was emotionally repressed by the time she was 9. She credits her adoptive parents and a system that supported them financially with her emotional recovery. Those very resources may not be as accessible for other children as lawmakers passed more than $6 million in budget cuts to Job and Family Services of Clark County last week. Money for programs that fund child protection services for abused and neglected children have been decreased as well as adoption assistance to help families adopt special needs children. Many children who start out like Johnson, now 18, end up in trouble, involved in a life of crime, incapable of remorse and devoid of emotion because of severe abuse and neglect, said her adoptive mother, Cindee Johnson. Now, Tonya is not only capable of compassion, but she is using it toward a career goal: She wants to care for small animals. "Without the counseling, without someone to talk to and the rest of it, it would have been impossible," Tonya said. Because Tonya was a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome, she is considered a special needs child, Cindee said. Cindee and her husband, who also have two biological children, adopted another child, Frank, who is now 15. Frank was diagnosed with severe attachment disorder after years of abuse, Cindee said. The teen, who has been placed at a residential home out of the county, is being treated for $200 a day. Frank's stay in the home is being paid for by a program that was in danger of being eliminated. "This is way beyond my own children, way beyond Tonya and Frank," Cindee said. "This is about children all around Ohio, the ones who are most vulnerable in our society." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/abe3f75a/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:33:32 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:40:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal Alcohol Disorders in ADHD Clothing Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213324.0452c418@ncf.ca> http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/20/fetal-alcohol-disorders-in-adhd-clothing/ Eco Child's Play Fetal Alcohol Disorders in ADHD Clothing Written by Cate Nelson Published on July 20th, 2009 Posted in Health, Pregnancy Many of you have followed?and been outraged by?the ?breastfeeding while drunk? case. But we all know that being drunk while pregnant is a gigantic ?no-no?. A new study shows that fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are often misdiagnosed as ADHD. Both disorders have a number of similar symptoms: very limited attention, physical restlessness and extreme impulsivity. But in some ways, FASD seems to be a bit more like another spectrum disorder: ASD. And now a study from the University of Toronto claim that we?re confusing disorders. Sufferers of fetal alcohol disorders have a problems distinguishing social cues and processing emotions. They are certainly not ?just like? those with autism spectrum disorder, but they seem to be somewhere in the middle of children with ADHD and those with ASD. And that can be a problem, say researchers, because we end up treating their problems improperly.Study author Jane Rovet had this: Our findings show that overall, children with FASD have more severe behavioral problems. In terms of social cognition and emotional processing, the core deficit in FASD appears to be in understanding and interpreting another?s mental states and emotions It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions to deal with their unique deficits. Researchers closely studied three groups of children: 33 children with FASD, 30 children with ADHD and 34 children considered ?normal controls? and focused on their social cognition and emotion-processing abilities. They found that children with FASD exhibited issues with social cognition, which could perhaps lead to other problems, especially in the social behavior realm. The study appears online in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and will be in print in October. Source: Forbes.com Tags: ADHD, alcohol, alcoholism, ASD autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fetal alcohol syndrom [] 4 Comments 1 Crimson Wife said on July 20th, 2009 at 11:54 am How do we tease apart causation though? Perhaps the women who still drink heavily while pregnant these days are bad at picking up social cues themselves. If she were good at picking up social cues, don?t you think she?d have gotten the message that drinking heavily while pregnant is a huge no-no? 2 Cate Nelson said on July 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pm That?s true, except are they unable to distinguish the social norms because they have their own issues similar to that of ASD and that?s genetic, or because they are products of fetal alcohol syndrome themselves? Chicken and egg, I suppose. It must be hard to find these kids for the study, too. If they are still in the custody of parents, one of whom did heavy drinking during pregnancy, how much will the mother know about her own mother?s practices during pregnancy? Interesting. 3 Novidades do dia 22/07/2009 ? Ano IV ? ag?ncia para promo??o da inclus?o said on July 21st, 2009 at 7:37 pm [...] Fetal Alcohol Disorders in ADHD Clothing http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/20/fetal-alcohol-disorders-in-adhd-clothing/ [...] 4 Kari said on July 29th, 2009 at 2:51 pm The areas of the brain that help control impulses, understand abstract or complex ideas, understand the connection between behavior and consequences, generalize one?s learning, ?get? humor or nuance, ?pick up? social cues, understand concepts of time and ownership, focus attention, process sensory information, etc can be very damaged by alcohol use during pregnancy even without the visible features typical of FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.) Most people with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) have IQs within the average age and they appear completely normal, but they have damage to their brains that affects their learning and behavior. It might be diagnosed on the Autism spectrum, as ADHD or other mental health disorders like Bipolar disorder. It might also be that there are co-occurring mental health disorders. (Mom herself has an ADHD or Bipolar disorder and she self medicates with alcohol during her pregnancy so her child might have a genetic ADHD or Bipolar disorder AND a FASD.) My husband and I adopted two children with FASD but our oldest was initially diagnosed on the autism spectrum and with ADHD. We received confirmation of his prenatal alcohol exposure and he was diagnosed with a FASD specifically ARND- Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder. Thanks for helping to spread the word about the risks of alcohol use during pregnancy! It can be devastating to live with FASD but the great news is that these disorders are 100% preventable! ~Kari -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/bf8c4b88/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:34:39 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:40:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] NIC student awarded fellowship to study zebrafish, fetal alcohol syndrome Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213411.0452c188@ncf.ca> http://media-newswire.com/release_1094876.html Media Newswire NIC student awarded fellowship to study zebrafish, fetal alcohol syndrome Rush's undergraduate research, which is funded by a 10-week, $5,000 fellowship from the Idaho Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), takes place in University of Idaho biological sciences professor Deb Stenkamp's lab. Each INBRE student is paired with a research mentor and Rush chose Stenkamp because of her lab's ongoing research relating to eyes. 2009-07-21 (Media-Newswire.com) - Bryne Rush wants to see her zebrafish specimens eye to eye. Rush, a North Idaho College student studying molecular biology, is researching how ethanol, a type of alcohol, affects the development of the eye in zebrafish embryos. Her findings may lead to a better understanding of how different amounts of alcohol contribute to an infant?s likelihood of developing fetal alcohol syndrome. Rush is comparing micropthalmia caused by ethanol and microphthalmia caused by hyperthermia to see if there is a correlation. Micropthalmia is an eye disorder where eye size is smaller than normal. Finding a common pathway between the two causes may help to find the mechanism behind the disease, Rush said. Rush?s undergraduate research, which is funded by a 10-week, $5,000 fellowship from the Idaho Institutional Development Award ( IDeA ) Network of Biomedical Research Excellence ( INBRE ), takes place in University of Idaho biological sciences professor Deb Stenkamp?s lab. Each INBRE student is paired with a research mentor and Rush chose Stenkamp because of her lab?s ongoing research relating to eyes. ?I just think the eye is amazing,? Rush said. ?It?s a special sense. Just the way it works is so fascinating Whether it?s the physics of the eye, if you want to know how light works or it?s the biology of the eye, or the chemistry of the eye, it just combines everything.? Rush attended NIC for two years after high school, but found working two jobs ? one at an optical store ? while going to school was too stressful. Rush dropped out of college to take time to make money. During that time, she also got married. It was the best career move she could have made, she said. She began working with a more advanced doctor who was able to provide treatments for eye diseases. Eventually, she was able to work as a technician for him and started testing eyes to make glasses and contacts. ?I just remember the first time I got to look inside someone?s eye,? she said. ?We dilated somebody, and I got to look in and actually see. They?d look around and you could actually see their retina move, and it was just really cool.? Her experience in the shop led her to want to go back to school, originally for optometry school, but now she says she has research set in her sights. Her research opportunities with INBRE have allowed her to mediate a job, school and marriage, she said. She travels to and from Post Falls, where her home is, and Moscow, where she conducts the research. ?I live in Post Falls, and I have a house and a mortgage and all that fun stuff,? she said. ?I have to try to figure all that out. My husband is up there, so it?s hard to be in two places at once.? Rush?s research utilizes different strains of zebrafish that are bred and separated. Different strains of the fish are a critical component, because they seem to react differently to different amounts of alcohol ?something Rush said is important, because that can also be true of humans. ?They?re all still zebrafish, but it?s a different strain,? she said. ?It?s supposed to be analogous with humans. Different ethnicities are more affected by fetal alcohol syndrome, or more likely to be diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. We want to see how they could possibly relate.? Ethanol is added to the water the fish embryos are held in, and the research team collects data by stopping their growth. Different amounts of ethanol are applied to different strains of the fish to see how each strain reacts. ?When you add the ethanol, ( we ask ) at what percentage do you see reduced eye size? And at what point is it significant?? Rush said. ?That way you can find a pathway. You can tell which strain is more resistant to the effects of alcohol.? The research also looks at how hyperthermia, or increased temperature, affects the embryos? development. Rush said her involvement with the research, which is coming to a close and may be ready for publication soon, has helped her understand she has a high interest in research opportunities. She feels a deep sense of responsibility for the integrity of the work she produces, she said. ?Even though you?re just doing measurements, and it?s the same process you?re doing every week, you still feel that same responsibility to do everything well so that the data is able to be published,? she said. ?You just never know who?s going to see what you did and think of a way to be able to use it.? Stenkamp, Rush?s mentor, said she?s optimistic about Rush?s involvement in the lab. Stenkamp has been an INBRE mentor since 2003. ?She?s very enthusiastic,? Stenkamp said. ?She loves looking at the images, and that can also be a big hurdle, because if you don?t like sitting in front of a microscope in my lab you are doomed.? Undergraduate research experience is critical when Stenkamp brings in new graduate students to her lab, she said. She said programs like INBRE allow students a genuine look at how real research is conducted. ?They also end up having insights that those of us who?ve been working on the project for years and years are no longer paying attention to,? she said. ?Having a little bit of an outside perspective, they?re a little na?ve and ask, if they?re bold enough, what they think is a stupid question. But really it?s probably the smartest thing anyone?s ever asked before." Rush said her fellowship is invaluable to her understanding of science in a real-life setting. ?I think it?s really going to let me know on a deeper level if I want to do research,? she said. ?It?s really helpful to see how labs like this work, and it is very specific to what I want to do.? The fellowship isn?t the only research Rush has conducted through INBRE. Last year she worked on an ongoing project as an INBRE scholar to help create a vaccine against the bubonic plague in the event of its release as a bioterrorist act. The INBRE Scholars Program is a two-week intensive research opportunity for undergraduate students at Boise State University. INBRE?s $16.5 million grant ? the largest biomedical research grant ever awarded to the state of Idaho ? was renewed this year by the National Institutes of Health to extend the program?s funding until 2014. More than 500 undergraduate students have conducted biomedical research through the program since INBRE?s inception. Rush will design a scientific poster to present her findings at the Annual INBRE Research Conference held Aug. 3-5 at Idaho State University in Pocatello. For More Information NIC Microbiology Instructor and INBRE Coordinator Rhena Cooper, ( 208 ) 769-3476 Media Contact Stacy Hudson, Public Information Coordinator ( 208 ) 769-7819 or stacy_hudson@nic.edu Release Date This story was released on 2009-07-21. Please make sure to visit the official company or organization web site to learn more about the original release date. See our disclaimer for additional information. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/e04c1e89/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:35:27 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:40:16 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] =?iso-8859-1?q?Banning_alcohol_ads_won=92t_?= =?iso-8859-1?q?cure_alcoholism?= Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213518.0452bef8@ncf.ca> "...A study of alcohol consumption by pregnant women reported by the US Centers for Disease Control noted that almost eight years after the implementation of the warning labels the number of women drinking during pregnancy had risen...." http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7159/ Spiked Tuesday 21 July 2009 Banning alcohol ads won?t cure alcoholism The campaign to restrict the advertising of booze in order to save the public could end up driving us to drink. Basham and Luik Despite a sceptical literature on the relationship between alcohol advertising and drinking initiation and consumption, there remain powerful public health campaigns to restrict or eliminate alcohol ads. Exhibit A: the British charity Alcohol Concern?s declaration last week that alcohol should not be advertised on television before the 9pm watershed. According to Alcohol Concern?s spokesman, ?Given the evidence with regard to the influence of alcohol advertising on young people, it is appropriate that the current rules should be tightened?. Alcohol Concern?s pronouncement is the progeny of two books published a half century ago, journalist Vance Packard?s million-selling The Hidden Persuaders and French demographer Sully Ledermann?s Alcohol, Alcoholism, Alcoholisation. These works shaped today?s public health establishment consensus about the effects of alcohol advertising. Packard asserted that advertising exerts a strong manipulative influence on consumption. Ledermann claimed that there is a fixed relationship between total alcohol consumption and the proportion of heavy drinkers; the only difference between heavy drinkers and the rest of the population being the amount of alcohol consumed. Hence, there is a causal relationship between consumption and misuse. Between them, Packard and Ledermann provided the basis for the public health establishment?s demand that alcohol advertising be either tightly regulated or completely banned. According to the public health view, increases in average alcohol consumption increase the number of problem drinkers and thus the amount of alcohol-related harm, including healthcare costs. Given that alcohol advertising both initiates new consumers and increases total consumption, it should be restricted or banned. At the very least, this view asserts, exposure to advertising causes individuals to drink who might not otherwise drink and causes people to consume more alcohol than they otherwise would. Restricting or eliminating advertising is justifiable since it would reduce total consumption and with it aggregate alcohol harm. Are the public health community?s claims about alcohol advertising effects true, and are its demands for restrictions or complete bans on alcohol advertising, based as they are to a large degree on Packard and Ledermann, justified? In order to test these claims, we examined the public health model of advertising?s effects, experimental studies, studies of alcohol advertising exposure and recall, econometric studies of alcohol advertising, drinking initiation and consumption, and studies of alcohol advertising restrictions and bans. The public health model is foundational to the view that advertising affects drinking choices. The empirical evidence for this model is weak and even taken on their own terms studies of alcohol advertising consistently fail to demonstrate that the drinking behaviour of an individual is the causal result of an alcohol advertisement. Even if we were to allow that this effects model is strongly supported by the empirical evidence, which it is not, there are no studies of alcohol advertising that trace the effect of an advert from exposure to purchase behaviour across a sample population in such a fashion to demonstrate that the advert actually caused the behaviour. Without such a demonstration, it is impossible to conclude legitimately that alcohol advertising caused a behaviour. As for experimental studies, even allowing for the substantial issues around methodology, small sample sizes, and the appropriateness of drawing conclusions based on artificial settings, it is nonetheless clear that there is no support in the experimental literature for the claim that alcohol advertising causes initial alcohol use or increases alcohol consumption. Some prominent regulation advocates, such as Professor Gerard Hastings, claim that newer studies provide evidence of the link between alcohol advertising and drinking behaviour. Our analysis of 11 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of advertising exposure and recall suggests otherwise. Three problems undermine the findings of the alcohol advertising exposure and recall studies. First, and most importantly, none of the studies can justify a causal conclusion about the relationship between advertising and drinking initiation or consumption given their cross-sectional or longitudinal design. Second, all have significant methodological issues, particularly with respect to warranting that they have in fact accurately measured alcohol advertising exposure, and also in terms of their reliance on unverified subject recall. Finally, the studies generally report data that is either not statistically significant or, if significant, is a weak relationship, or in fact contradicts their thesis. Together, these studies present virtually no support for the claim that alcohol advertising causes young people to begin drinking. Collectively, these studies suggest that alcohol advertising either does not increase total alcohol consumption, or has an impact that is, in the case of beer advertising, so marginal as to be insignificant. With respect to econometric studies, out of over 30 such studies over the past two decades, only a handful support the claim that alcohol advertising leads to drinking initiation or increases total consumption. The imposition of alcohol advertising bans represents a reasonably direct way in which to test the Ledermann-derived public health hypothesis about both the effects of alcohol advertising and the corrective of advertising restrictions and bans. Although the evidence is not completely consistent and has, as we have noted, significant limitations in its ability to control for possible confounding factors, there is still very strong evidence that the imposition of bans has not reduced consumption. Of 17 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of the effects of advertising restrictions and bans on drinking initiation and consumption, only three find that such measures have a statistically significant effect on either initiation or consumption. There is strong evidence that restrictions have not reduced consumption and the evidence from jurisdictions that have removed bans shows that consumption has not increased when advertising has resumed. Nor do such studies provide support for the claim that such restrictions on advertising reduce alcohol abuse or alcohol related-harms such as road fatalities or disease. Indeed, one study found that broadcast bans of spirits advertising resulted in both higher consumption levels and increased levels of traffic fatalities. Moreover, where alcohol advertising bans have been lifted, there is no evidence that consumption has increased. This does not, of course, mean that advertising is ineffective, as many of these studies, both nationally and internationally, have demonstrated the expected advertising outcome of substitution effects and movements between brands and beverage categories. Based on the empirical evidence, it is clear that the public health establishment?s claims about the effects of alcohol advertising are incorrect. Indeed, the weight of the evidence substantially argues against its assertions about alcohol advertising initiating drinking and increasing consumption and alcohol-related harm. Consequently, there is no public policy justification for measures to restrict or completely ban alcohol advertising that is directed to legal consumers. But what about warning labels on alcohol? Either instead of or in tandem with advertising restrictions, can they not be an effective deterrent against drinking? In short, no, they cannot. The main evidence against the effectiveness of such warnings comes from the US. According to the proponents of warnings, they serve both to inform the public about the specific risks of drinking and reduce the drinking of specific groups most at risk, such as pregnant women, adolescents, and problem drinkers. But the research evidence suggests otherwise. If the warning is to be effective it first has to be noticed. But US telephone surveys have found that only between 20 and 25 per cent of respondents noticed the labels in the first six months after introduction, with only 16 per cent recalling the content of the warning. Effective warnings, according to Kip Viscusi of Harvard University, must also provide new information. Yet an Ipsos-Reid survey in February 2005 found that 99 per cent of Canadian women of childbearing age knew that there were risks with drinking during pregnancy, suggesting that the proposed warnings would not be providing new information. Equally unimpressive is the evidence for warnings affecting behavioural change. The US Surgeon General?s warnings about the risks to pregnant women from drinking have been mandatory since 1989. A study of alcohol consumption by pregnant women reported by the US Centers for Disease Control noted that almost eight years after the implementation of the warning labels the number of women drinking during pregnancy had risen. As Dr Janet Hankin in a review of fetal alcohol prevention discovered, only the lighter drinkers who were less at risk of having children with fetal alcohol syndrome followed the warning. ?Among high-risk drinkers?, Dr Hankin noted, ?the label law clearly has not affected drinking behaviour?. A similar result has been noted with adolescents. David MacKinnon reported in the American Journal of Public Health that in a group of 16,661 high school students followed from 1989 to 1995, ?there was no beneficial change attributable to the warning in beliefs, alcohol consumption, or driving after drinking?. The World Health Organisation?s 2003 study on alcohol noted that warnings failed to increase young people?s perceptions of alcohol risks and had ?no direct impacts? on consumption. Studies have also found that heavy drinkers, while aware of the warnings (they see them more frequently), are more likely to consider them less believable and to discount them more than other drinkers. This suggests that warnings may not only be ineffective, they might also be counterproductive in at least three senses. First, warnings appear to reduce at-risk drinkers? acceptance of the risks associated with their behaviour. The very act of warning actually works against itself. The reasons for this are various. There is a natural tendency to avoid information that has negative self-implications. People are very good at avoiding processing information like warnings that they perceive as threatening. Through a process known as cognitive readjustment people tend to exempt themselves as subjects who ought to be concerned with the warning. Then, too, there is the fact that large numbers of risk-takers display what psychologists call ?reactance?, in which there is a high level of resistance to the demands of outside authority and control. For these individuals, a label represents an unreasonable attempt to shape their behaviour. Second, as the WHO study and others have noted, warnings highlight risk and for those attracted to risk this serves to make alcohol more attractive than it might otherwise be. Finally, in pregnant women, research by Professor Ernest Abel, director of reproductive toxicology at Wayne State University, suggests that warnings might provoke stress in pregnant women that in turn may result in stress-related physiological changes that compromise the health of the fetus. Even if the evidence of failure does not convince, perhaps the strong probability that alcohol warnings and advertising restrictions drive some people to drink might bury these pernicious regulatory instruments. Patrick Basham and John Luik are authors, with Gio Gori, of Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade, a Social Affairs Unit book. (Buy this book from Amazon(UK).) Patrick Basham directs the Democracy Institute and is a Cato Institute adjunct scholar. John Luik is a Democracy Institute senior fellow. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/aa78b4f8/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:37:37 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:40:23 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Health department concern is unwarranted Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803213728.0452bc68@ncf.ca> http://www.newtimesslo.com/letters-to-the-editor/2979/health-department-concern-is-unwarranted/ New Times San Luis Obispo, California Letter To The Editor The following article was posted on July 22nd, 2009, in the New Times - Volume 23, Issue 51 Health department concern is unwarranted Atasacadero Mark Jansen Once again the polarized, puritanical view that one is either a perfect saint or a falling-down drunk has defeated common sense and personal responsibility. Let's get realistic before we have pregnant women arrested over a glass of wine and before we buy into the government as better qualified to raise children than parents. It doesn't take a medical expert to determine that serious alcohol abuse will cause Fetal-Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and that no-alcohol equals no-risk. Despite the higher level of drinking found locally ("Drinking while pregnant," July 16) there is no corresponding higher level of FAS, proving that there must be an acceptable level of reasonably safe alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Pregnant woman in SLO County have obviously found this acceptable level, are not all alcoholics, and should be treated with more respect. The group most likely to drink is not the most likely to have a baby with FAS, proving the concern by the SLO County Health Agency is flawed. You can bet that the real purpose is to increase funding to throw at a nonexistent problem. Perhaps doctors with medical training know better than county bureaucrats who wish there were more sick babies to prove their point of view. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/60507428/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:41:33 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:46:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Creating a focus on 'invisible disability' Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803214106.0452b4b8@ncf.ca> "...The winning poster, which also shows a child, a wine bottle, and the acronym FASD, will be used to promote Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day, which takes place Sept. 12 at Simms Park starting at 9 a.m...." http://www.canada.com/Creating+focus+invisible+disability/1822435/story.html [British Columbia] Creating a focus on 'invisible disability' Poster contest launches campaign on FASD By Michael Briones, Comox Valley Echo July 24, 2009 "I was an alcoholic before I was born, but you would never know it." It's a strong and bold statement that is featured in Angela's artwork that was chosen as the winner of the poster contest organized by Ravenback Youth and the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder Mobile Prevention Project at the Wachiay Friendship Centre. "What makes Angela's poster special is that it cuts straight to the heart of one of the biggest issue of FASD - It seemingly is an invisible disability," said Georgia O'Brien, the project coordinator for FASD Mobile Prevention Project. "The artistry was also really well done." The winning poster, which also shows a child, a wine bottle, and the acronym FASD, will be used to promote Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day, which takes place Sept. 12 at Simms Park starting at 9 a.m. "We are going to reproduce it and put them up around the community," said O'Brien. O'Brien said 10 posters were entered and all will be put on display for the community to see at the Courtenay Library, Aug. 25 for two weeks. As well, information and other resources on FASD will be also available at the library. Angela received a $50 gift certificate to a store of her choice for her winning poster. The contest is the first of many activities the centre has lined up to make the community aware of FASD. FASD is a disability caused by prenatal consumption of alcohol. It is referred to as an invisible disability because many people affected do not have the obvious physical characteristics that are more easily recognized in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome such as abnormal facial features, impaired motor development and profound brain damage. Those who suffer from FASD are often able-bodied people with average or above average IQs. The primary characteristics of their disability reflect brain function of dysfunction which include inconsistent memory and recall, inability to filter out environmental or emotional distractions and sensory stimuli, inconsistent cognitive and auditory processing, decreased mental steamily and difficulty interpreting, and applying abstract concepts just to name a few. On July 15, the centre will be hosting a Learning and Action Planning for Positive Change workshop that is expected to draw participants from as far as Nanaimo and Port Alberni, Campbell River, and Comox who are interested in planning towards positive change for people with FASD. The event, which will be a whole day affair to be held at the Kingfisher Resort and Spa, will feature guest speaker, Scott Graham of SPARC BC, who will be talking about FASD initiatives in the Comox Valley. "The topics are derived from an earlier survey process that gathered feedback from local organizations and parent groups about gaps in service for FASD clients and families," said O'Brien. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/41202839/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:42:50 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:46:18 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] John Howard Society Unveils New Program: B.C. - 2 articles Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803214239.0452b228@ncf.ca> http://www.am1150.ca/node/942578 AM1150 Kelowna, British Columbia John Howard Society Unveils New Program Thu, 2009-06-11 13:11. Local News A new program was launched Thursday by the John Howard Society of the Central and South Okanagan dealing with those suffering from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Individuals afflicted by FASD often find themselves in conflict with the law and need a mentor to get themselves back on their feet. That's where the Gateway Mentoring Program comes in. Coordinator Kristin Stratulat says the program is the first of it's kind in Canada. "The other FASD related programs have all been more child-focused, or have been aimed at prevention in terms of addressing pregnancy care centres." A 219 thousand dollars grant has been earmarked to launch the two year program. Regan Bartel - Kelowna http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/47415/Funding-for-Gateway-program Kelowna News Funding for Gateway program by Castanet Staff - Story: 47415 Jun 7, 2009 / 2:00 pm The John Howard Society of the Central and South Okanagan has received a grant from the Victoria Foundation under the $2 million Prevention and Education funding stream of the Fetal Alcohol Disorder Action Fund. The grant is to develop and implement a mentoring and support program for individuals affected by or suspected of being affected by FASD that have been or are at risk of involvement with the criminal justice system. The program, called the Gateway Mentoring Program, will also seek to work with and inform criminal justice personnel on FASD and the needs of those impacted by it. The Victoria Foundation, recently announced that under the FASD Action Fund, the Advisory Committee has approved a $219,168 grant for the Gateway Mentoring Program. The grant will fully fund the first two years of the program, with the grant expended by December 2010. Shelley Cook, Executive Director of JHSCSO, is extremely pleased and honoured that Kelowna received such a significant grant, saying that the program will provide much needed support for a vulnerable and often under-served population. Although client intake is not until June 15, Gateway Mentoring Program already has the support of criminal justice stakeholders, higher education and the FASD community. Bill McKinnon, Superintendent of the RCMP, is in support of the program and says that the Gateway Mentoring Program will provide another resource for police and those at risk of contact with them. All community service agencies are invited to celebrate the launch of this program on June 11 from 4-7 p.m. at The Habitat on Leon Ave. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/9313025b/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:44:00 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:46:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Gateway Mentoring Program: Kelowna Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803214348.0452af98@ncf.ca> http://kelowna.cioc.ca/record/KNA1566 Kelowna Community Resources Gateway Mentoring Program The John Howard Society of the Central and South Okanagan Record #: KNA1566 Last Modified: 19 Jun 2009 Last Full Update: 19 Jun 2009 Location, Telephone & Internet Address 1441 St. Paul St, #2 Kelowna, BC V1Y 2E4 Located In Community Kelowna Intersection 1 block from the Queensway transit mall Office Phone 250.763.1331 Fax 250.763.1483 Website www.jhscso.bc.ca Contact Information Primary Contact Kristin Stratulat, BA, MA (Candidate), Program Coordinator, The John Howard Society of the Central and Southern Okanagan, Phone: 250.763.1331, Fax: 250.763.1483, Email: kristin.stratulat@jhscso.bc.ca Description & Services Description At the Gateway Mentoring program, they understand that the journey from involvement with the Criminal Justice System to positive social re-integration is a difficult one and, as a result, are there to assist the client through the process. Particularly, those living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have an entirely unique situation, as they require steady one-to-one interaction. The devoted mentors at Gateway offer support and stability in the lives of the clients with the goal of achieving the highest degree of independence possible. To ensure the highest degree of success for the client, the Gateway Mentoring program adopts an empathetic view towards the client living with FASD. Each course of action is individually developed based on basic needs, as well as the clients' gender and cultural background, while simultaneously building on their pre-existing strengths. Throughout the development of the programs, the mentors will work with the client, family members and other key figures to ensure that clients' needs are met within an all encompassing bio-psycho-social model. Areas Served Central Okanagan Eligibility In order to be eligible to take part in the Gateway Mentoring Program, the individual must: - Either have a FASD diagnosis or the individual is highly suspected of having FASD. - Have been in contact with, or is still in contact with the law. - Initially fill out the referral form (staff members are available to help with this process) and after it is filled out, those individuals who are appropriate for the program will go through the intake process. - Individuals who are not eligible will be referred to an appropriate program. Application Applications can be picked up at The John Howard Society of the Central and South Okanagan office. Fees None Other Details Accessibility Fully Accessible Sup. Description Services offered through the program are: - Gender Sensitive - Individualised - Culturally sensitive - Respectful - Strength based - Non-judgemental The following areas are addressed in the lives of the clients: - Employment and Financial Support - Development of Basic Life Skills - Living Environment - Court & Legal Involvement - Substance Use/Abuse - Education - Budgeting - Arts & Leisure - Family & Friend Relationships - Physical & Mental Health - Cultural & Spiritual Networking - Exploitation Concerns Print Material Available at the office. Subjects Subjects Alcohol ; Alcohol consumption ; Children of alcoholics ; Criminal courts ; Criminal law ; Criminal offences ; Information and referral ; Law ; Pregnancy complications -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/8c3cce4d/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:45:16 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:52:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] An Anxious Parent's Path To Becoming An Advocate Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803214503.0452b9d8@ncf.ca> "...'If I wanted something for my son, I will fight. If someone tells you no, then you fight and find someone who will eventually get you what you want,'..." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061204131.html The Washington Post An Anxious Parent's Path To Becoming An Advocate Woman Helps Lead Class On Mental Disorders By Ian Shapira Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 14, 2009 Diana Malcolm can tick off the seemingly infinite number of brain disorders that have afflicted her 13-year-old son, Joshua, as if they were courses in graduate school: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Asperger syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome and adopted intermittent explosive disorder. For the 43-year-old parent, the laundry list of mental health problems is an inherently limited description of her child, but it is also evidence of how fluent Malcolm has become as a community leader and teacher in the discipline of brain disorders. On Wednesday night, Malcolm completed her fourth "Visions for Tomorrow" course sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and held for Prince William County parents. Malcolm, who works at an engraving and trophy store, said that after so many years and classes, she became so comfortable talking openly about her own experiences treating Joshua that she became like a co-teacher for the often-tense sessions, held this year at Penn Elementary School in Woodbridge. Her new role as a teacher, she said, represented a leap from her first year taking the class as a student, when she cried every time. "This time, I became close to the other parents, and they would call me throughout the week," Malcolm said. "It was exciting because I felt like it was another step in my advocacy and that I was at a good point with my son's disability. I've accepted what's going on, and I've moved from grieving to advocating for him. In the first session [of the first year], I felt very alone." Her son has ricocheted from one residential facility in Virginia to another, bounced around by one set of medical opinions to an entirely different set of recommendations from Prince William school officials. It was hard, she said, to settle on one location for too long because Josh's behavior was so erratic. He was especially prone to violent outbursts. "We had police at the house multiple times," she recalled. She sent him to facilities in Culpeper, Loudoun and eventually Clarke counties. Meanwhile, she attended the annual "Visions for Tomorrow" courses, beginning in 2005. The following year, she brought along her husband, a move that was important because the two sometimes did not agree on parenting methods. "A lot of times, we weren't on the same page," she said. "We felt that things should be handled differently, like if the consequences were or weren't strong enough or if they were too strong, how to handle yourself. We learned that the more you escalate [your tone], the more things escalate." In her third year, in 2007, Malcolm said she learned especially how to be a better advocate and navigate the medical and school systems. "If I wanted something for my son, I will fight. If someone tells you no, then you fight and find someone who will eventually get you what you want," she explained. She didn't enroll in 2008 but returned for her fourth round of classes this April. "I just offered myself to talk. We shared a lot of hugs," she said, describing the class. "They were pretty quiet." There was one man in the class, she said, but he dropped out. Coincidentally, as Malcolm graduated from her fourth year of the "Visions" course, she said her son might possibly "graduate" back into the public school system. She said he was transferred out of a residential facility in Clarke County and into a facility near the family's Woodbridge home. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/8cab5110/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:46:21 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:52:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Focus is on rehabilitation at the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803214611.0452ae50@ncf.ca> "...The region notes the initial $59 million did not include plans for additional beds, including 24 to accommodate a small group of people with complex needs, such as those with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder or acquired brain injuries. 'These are clients who don't fit in anywhere...'" http://www.leaderpost.com/health/Focus+rehabilitation+Saskatchewan+Hospital+North+Battleford/1720933/story.html Leader Post Regina, Saskatchewan Focus is on rehabilitation at the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford By Pamela Cowan, Leader-Post June 22, 2009 NORTH BATTLEFORD ? The Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford has no barred windows. No patients are bound in straitjackets nor are they sedated by being scheduled to soak in tubs of water for 12 hours. Treatment for people with diseases of the mind has altered dramatically since the Saskatchewan Provincial Hospital for the Insane opened its doors on the virgin prairie in 1914. The year the world went to war for the first time, on a February day when the mercury dropped to nearly minus-60 degrees, 346 patients were transferred from the asylum in Brandon, Man., to Saskatchewan's lone mental health facility. At that time, families felt deep shame if they had a relative who was mentally ill. Often, family ties were severed: In one of the cemeteries close to the hospital, 1,500 steel crosses marked the graves of patients who were unclaimed by their families. On each cross, a number, not a name, identified the person. In the early years, the role of the hospital was to keep patients secluded from the community. But staff members knew little about mental illness. Until tranquilizing drugs became available in the 1950s, they couldn't do much to alleviate patients' self-destructive, terrorizing delusions and hallucinations. Today, the goal of the staff at SHNB is to rehabilitate patients so they can live in the community. The one constant in the two disparate realities is the institution where people with mental illness have been treated for 95 years. ??? Inside the Saskatchewan Hospital's red brick walls, patients and staff rejoiced on Feb. 24, 2006, when then-Health Minister Len Taylor announced his government would immediately commit $39 million to replace the building. A firm was hired to plan the new facility, programming was assessed and a conceptual design was determined. The final phase would have been the architectural design, but no money flowed from the provincial coffers. "The $39 million was never moved from the general revenue fund," says Health Minister Don McMorris, who replaced Taylor as health minister when the Saskatchewan Party won the 2008 election. Linda Shynkaruk, director of the Saskatchewan Hospital, is disappointed the 2009 provincial budget did not designate money to replace the aging institution. "Having said that, there is obviously a commitment on the part of the government to keep this project alive," she says. "They have earmarked some dollars so we can continue planning for the new facility." New funding for the psychiatric rehabilitation hospital was announced April 9 ? the day Shynkaruk and Dr. Kizhake Ramachandran, the hospital's chief psychiatrist, guided three Leader-Post employees around the aging facility. The Ministry of Health is providing $450,000 to the Prairie North Health Region for further planning to clarify the scope of work and costs to replace the hospital. David Fan, CEO of the Prairie North Health Region, is passionate about the need for a new hospital and welcomes the provincial funding. "The message I'm getting is that this government is very committed to this project," he says. "They want to do due diligence and that's fair enough. We will work very closely with the ministry. It's taken us 100 years to get to where we are today, but I don't want it to take another 100 years to see this hospital rebuilt." But with each passing year, the cost to replace the facility escalates ? partly because of higher construction and labour costs. In 2006, the province estimated it would cost $59 million to replace the hospital. Once the conceptual design and functional programming work was completed in September 2007, the replacement cost was in the neighbourhood of $150 million. The region notes the initial $59 million did not include plans for additional beds, including 24 to accommodate a small group of people with complex needs, such as those with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder or acquired brain injuries. "These are clients who don't fit in anywhere," Fan says. "Nobody wants to take responsibility for them. I call them the lost souls in society today. They do not really have mental health issues as such, so they don't fit into the mandate of Saskatchewan Hospital. The problem is these are people who bounce from home, end up on the street, end up in jail, end up in the corrections system ? and ultimately end up in Saskatchewan Hospital because often it is the place of last resort." ??? Employees at the hospital often repeat the mantra: "Good staff, good care, bad building." Shynkaruk says patients receive quality care despite the lack of privacy and tight quarters for treatment and private counselling. "The whole focus of Saskatchewan Hospital has changed over the years from a custodial type of care to a rehabilitation focus ? that's our goal," she says. "And in order to completely be able to do that, we need a better facility. This is a huge building, but really there is a lot of unusable space." And, she adds, parts of the building are crumbling. "The floors are cracking," Shynkaruk says. "It's just old and it's dreary. The grounds are beautiful, but the wards are not conducive to a therapeutic environment for our patients." Attempts to create a homelike atmosphere are evident in areas of the overcrowded facility. In the living room/dining room on rehabilitation unit No. 2, the walls have a teal-coloured border, and teal curtains provide a splash of colour in the large room that has grey chairs and tables and 10 swivel leather chairs positioned in front of a 30-inch TV. Shynkaruk began working at the hospital as a registered psychiatric nurse in 1983 and became the director in 2001. As she leads us through the hospital, she greets patients by their first names. "The challenge for the patients is they can't advocate for themselves," she says. "That's very frustrating for me. We're here on behalf of the patients to advocate for them and be their voice." ??? McMorris toured the Saskatchewan Hospital less than a year ago. He concedes it needs replacing, but says financing the project will depend on its scope and the number of beds added. He added that replacing the hospital is only one piece of improving mental health services. "That is one area that I feel strongly has been underserved by ourselves in the first 18 months of our mandate and previous governments ? it seems to be the piece that's pushed off to the side," McMorris says. "Acute care takes precedence. That's why in this year's budget, we've set money aside to determine a mental health strategy." ??? Since Martin Halyk began experiencing hallucinations and delusions in 1998, he has been admitted three times to the Saskatchewan Hospital to be treated for schizoaffective disorder. His latest admission was in October. "I've always taken my medication," the 34-year-old says. "But it seems like I can't take much stress and I seem to relapse a fair bit." Patients have little privacy in the institution. On wards throughout the building, it's the norm for 10 patients to share one bathroom. "We need more single rooms so everybody can have their own room," Halyk says. "I live in a dorm with three other gentlemen and it's pretty crowded." Despite the cramped conditions, Halyk seems content. He credits his improved self-esteem to his involvement in some of the activities offered at the hospital, such as woodworking, cutting and hauling firewood, working in the greenhouses, mowing grass and shovelling snow for North Battleford residents. "I feel at peace," he says. "I never had peace for many years. I was in turmoil because of my mental illness. But I've never gotten violent with my mental illness. I'm just a timid gentleman." ??? The tour continues to the forensic unit ? a medium secure facility with 24 beds. If plans are approved, the new facility will have 48 forensic beds. "Unfortunately, that is a growth area in our province. The demand for services in that area is quite significant, so we're building a capacity for the future," Fan says. Once admitted through locked doors, and past a metal detector, we see patients lounging quietly on chairs. Across from the nursing station is an intensive psychiatric care room ? one of five in the hospital. It's where highly disturbed patients are taken. The stark room has only a bed, complete with restraints, and a toilet. Repairs are underway after a patient took a round out of the gyproc wall the previous week. Brown paper covers the room's two windows and provides some privacy from the stares of others on the unit, but two hidden cameras constantly monitor the patient. The room isn't soundproof. Shynkaruk says to reduce disruptions it should be located away from where patients sleep and eat. The courts send individuals to the forensic unit to determine whether they are fit to stand trial and, in some cases, an assessment is done on those who have been found guilty to determine whether they were criminally responsible at the time of the offence. Also on the unit are some patients who are serving a conditional sentence and occasionally those on probation. "Our objective is not only to treat their illness, but help them through the rehabilitation process and reduce their level of danger to the community," Ramachandran says. While acute mental health centres usually expect patients to move on in weeks, patients at the Saskatchewan Hospital stay for lengthy periods. Remand patients on the forensic unit stay from 21 days to a maximum of four weeks while the stay of a psych rehab patient ranges from 18 months to two years. ??? There aren't any corrections workers employed at the hospital, but the facility does have security staff. "Our philosophy is different than other correctional facilities in that we are a hospital and we provide a therapeutic environment," Shynkaruk says. "Correctional facilities manage security and risk, we manage the psychiatric part. Lots of these people have fallen through the cracks. It's just by virtue that they got into trouble that they've come in here." When Ramachandran is asked if he's ever feared for his safety, he says simply: "We have to be alert. Occasionally you are concerned for your safety but in mental health, that is always the risk." Outside the forensics unit, patients can sit in a courtyard at a picnic table or on yellow or rust-coloured lawn chairs or shoot on a basketball rim. Razor wire at the top of the fenced area is the only indication patients cannot leave of their own volition. ??? At the beginning of April, five people were waiting to get into North Battleford. "Getting those five people in will be hard," Shynkaruk says. "We have a limited ability to send people out, because of the lack of community resources and approved homes in the community." Prior to discharge from the Saskatchewan Hospital, patients must be financially and vocationally ready and have a home placement. Because of the extensive planning, Shynkaruk says, the hospital has a low re-admission rate. Michael Kahmahkotayo is an exception. Raised on the Little Pine Reserve, 53 kilometres northwest of Battleford, he's been treated for bipolar disorder at the Saskatchewan Hospital three times. "I've been here off and on since I was 19," the 27-year-old says candidly. His latest admission to the forensic unit was on Jan. 24, 2008. "I relapsed because I wasn't taking my medication and I was abusing alcohol ... The police picked me up on a warrant because I was acting funny and talking strange," Kahmahkotayo says. "They brought me to the forensic unit to get well, and here I am, getting well." Roy Woloski, a mental health therapist, works with about 30 patients daily in two dilapidated greenhouses that date back to 1950 and are located on the grounds. "We supply all the Prairie North regional health authority's grounds with flowers, plus we sell whatever we have left over to the community," Woloski says. "They get to practise work skills ? it may be just showing up on time for work, staying on task, stopping for coffee ... Every patient out here works at his own skill and pace. Some high-functioning patients are trusted to operate machinery, others will stack wood or plant plants." Patients also maintain the nine-hole golf course on the hospital grounds. Kahmahkotayo particularly enjoys woodworking classes, which have led to construction jobs in the community. "Being here, they help me get my mental health to be stable," he says. "I'm feeling good now and I don't want to make the mistake of having another relapse, so I'll keep taking my meds and stay away from alcohol." Ramachandran is one of three psychiatrists who work with a psychologist and a psychometrist at the hospital to treat patients who have attended treatment programs at mental health centres in the province. "They more or less are not responding to treatment and are difficult to manage in the community," he says. "At that stage, they are referred to our hospital. They get to stay in a place for a period of time in a structured environment away from drugs and other substances." One problem that occurs in the community is that patients stop taking medications or they don't follow the prescription. "That leads to relapses and every time a relapse occurs the illness becomes more and more resistant to treatment," Ramachandran says. "During the periods of illness, they lose their personal skills, they lose their employment, if they were employed, and they can have difficulties with relationships with their families. Gradually, the families are at the stage that they don't know what to do." The hospital's programs help patients regain some of their lost skills and learn new skills, assist them in building self-esteem and teach them how to deal with their anger or substance abuse. "We get the most complicated cases of mental illness," Ramachandran says. "Not just complicated, but they become resistant to treatment, and the mental health centres aren't able to offer the services that patients require." Ramachandran says more than 156 beds are needed in North Battleford ? ideally 234 beds, because of the increasing demand for services. "We would like to offer services within two weeks or four weeks at the most," he says. "Otherwise patients will have to stay on at the mental health centre, which puts the centre under strain. It's an ongoing domino effect. "If patients don't get proper services in the community, some of them might commit offences and get into trouble with the law. That will mean that the demand for forensic psychiatric services will increase." Dean Birck, nursing unit manager for forensic services, hopes positive changes will soon come to the hospital. "The people who reside here may not have a strong voice," he says fervently. "But they count as people of the province." pcowan@leaderpost.canwest.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/5480e695/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:47:25 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:52:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Three years for killing boy Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803214715.0452abc0@ncf.ca> "...evidence that suggested the boy suffered from several neurological disorders, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder...." http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Three+years+killing/1665642/story.html Vancouver Sun News Three years for killing boy Foster mom convicted of manslaughter By Jamie Hall, The Edmonton Journal June 5, 2009 Photos ( 1 ) Courtroom sketch from the trial of the foster mother.Photograph by: Amanda O'Connell, Edmonton Journal By the time she was sentenced Thursday, a foster mother convicted of manslaughter had already spent her tears in the courthouse corridor, crying in the arms of supporters. She was calm when she took her seat in the prisoner's box and dry-eyed as Court of Queen's Bench Justice Richard Marceau told her she will spend the next three years in prison. When her three-year-old foster son died on Jan. 27, 2007, the 32-year-old nurse had been a foster mother for a total of 52 days. At about 2 a.m. that day, she was alone with the child when he suffered a blow to the head and lost consciousness. The trauma and swelling were so severe that immediate medical intervention could not have saved him. In his sentencing, the judge noted that was perhaps the only point Crown prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga and defence lawyer Brian Beresh agreed on. One insisted it was an accident, the other said it was murder. Originally charged with second-degree murder, the woman was convicted of manslaughter by a jury last November following a six-week trial. At a sentencing hearing in April, Beresh argued for leniency, asking for a jail term of one to three years; Huyser-Wierenga argued 10 to 12 years would be more appropriate. During November's trial, the foster mother maintained she was trying to control the crying, squirming boy as she took him to the bathroom, and said he sprang from her arms and struck his head on the toilet bowl. Huyser-Wierenga contended the boy's death was the result of "lethal violence," the deadly culmination of a pattern of increasingly "cruel and callous" behaviour by the foster mother. According to a nanny who worked in the house, whose testimony the judge said Thursday he accepted as an aggravating factor, that behaviour included leaving the boy overnight in an unheated garage, clad only in a diaper. The nanny said the boy had bruises on his forehead when she found him sleeping on a cement floor the morning before he collapsed. Marceau also accepted evidence that suggested the boy suffered from several neurological disorders, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Because of that, said the judge, the boy should have not been placed with the woman, who did not have enough fostering experience. He also noted her willingness to accept more foster children in the weeks before the boy's death. At one point, the woman had six children in the home; four foster children and two biological children, a son and a daughter. Because the woman had no criminal record and is unlikely to reoffend, the sentence should reflect the "low end" of the range of incarceration, said the judge, who gave her two months' credit for time served at the Edmonton Remand Centre. She must also submit to a DNA order and must abide by a 10-year weapons ban. Thursday's sentence was met with outrage by the victim's family. The boy's biological father stormed out of the courtroom. "You're wrong!" he yelled at the judge, before pushing his way through the doors. Outside court, Beresh said his client was "very pleased" with the thorough manner in which the judge reviewed the facts of the case. "This was a very complicated case. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of case, and the judge took a lot of time; she's appreciative of that." Beresh said he thinks the sentence was fair but said the jury delivered a "compromised verdict" and his client will likely appeal. Huyser-Wierenga said he'll recommend the sentence be appealed, adding it did not reflect the jury's verdict. "Obviously, when we put forward our sentencing recommendation we did so with careful deliberation and consideration, and the fact there's such a disparity between what we asked for and what was given here today ... we don't think this is the fit and proper sentence. This is not an adequate response at all for someone who has killed a child in her care." Beresh said the court case has been "ruinous" for his client, who will likely no longer be able to find work as a nurse. Her son, meanwhile, now lives with his father in another country, and she is only allowed supervised visits with her daughter. jhall@thejournal.canwest.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/52be2354/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:50:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 21:52:26 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages Among Pregnant Urban Ugandan Women Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803215042.0452a6a0@ncf.ca> "... it is recommended that labels be placed prominently on bottled alcoholic beverages warning of the adverse effects of consuming alcohol during pregnancy...." http://alcoholreports.blogspot.com/ Alcohol Reports Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages Among Pregnant Urban Ugandan Women Maternal and Child Health Journal Online First 23 July 2009 The World Health Organization estimated alcohol consumption in Uganda to be one of the highest in the world. We examined alcohol consumption among Ugandan women prior to and after learning of pregnancy. We developed a screening algorithm using factors that predicted alcohol consumption in this study. In 2006, we surveyed 610 women attending antenatal care at the national referral hospital in Kampala, Uganda about consumption of traditional and commercial alcoholic beverages before and after learning of pregnancy. Alcohol consumption among pregnant Ugandan women attending antenatal care is high. A feasible screening algorithm can help providers target education and counseling to women who are likely drinking during pregnancy. Given the preference for commercial alcoholic beverages, it is recommended that labels be placed prominently on bottled alcoholic beverages warning of the adverse effects of consuming alcohol during pregnancy. Read Full Abstract Request Reprint E-Mail: aksethi@wisc.edu http://www.springerlink.com/content/g05vug276t2248x3/?p=4fc4800ae5ce481db8ba017b94f28ce4&pi=0 SpringerLink Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages Among Pregnant Urban Ugandan Women Journal Maternal and Child Health Journal Publisher Springer Netherlands ISSN 1092-7875 (Print) 1573-6628 (Online) DOI 10.1007/s10995-009-0500-3 Subject Collection Medicine SpringerLink Date Friday, July 24, 2009 Online First" [] PDF (286.6 KB) [] HTML [] Free Preview Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages Among Pregnant Urban Ugandan Women Imelda Namagembe1, 2, Leila W. Jackson1, Melissa D. Zullo1, Scott H. Frank1, Josaphat K. Byamugisha3 and Ajay K. Sethi1, 4 Contact Information (1) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-4945, USA (2) Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Mulago Hospital and Makerere University, P.O. Box 7051, Kampala, Uganda (3) Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Mulago Hospital and Makerere University, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda (4) Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, 610 Walnut Street, 587 WARF, Madison, WI 53726-2397, USA Published online: 23 July 2009 Abstract The World Health Organization estimated alcohol consumption in Uganda to be one of the highest in the world. We examined alcohol consumption among Ugandan women prior to and after learning of pregnancy. We developed a screening algorithm using factors that predicted alcohol consumption in this study. In 2006, we surveyed 610 women attending antenatal care at the national referral hospital in Kampala, Uganda about consumption of traditional and commercial alcoholic beverages before and after learning of pregnancy. Predictors of alcohol consumption during pregnancy were examined and a practical screening algorithm was developed for use in antenatal clinics. One hundred eighty women (30%) drank alcohol at least monthly before learning of their pregnancy. Among these women, almost one-third reported usual consumption of at least one beverage type at quantities that equal binging levels for women. Overall, 151 women (25%) consumed alcohol after learning of pregnancy. Commercial beverages, particularly beer, were consumed more often than traditional drinks. A two-stage screening algorithm asking women about their religion, male partner or friends' drinking, and any lifetime drinking predicted self-reported consumption of alcohol during pregnancy with 97% sensitivity and 89% specificity. Alcohol consumption among pregnant Ugandan women attending antenatal care is high. A feasible screening algorithm can help providers target education and counseling to women who are likely drinking during pregnancy. Given the preference for commercial alcoholic beverages, it is recommended that labels be placed prominently on bottled alcoholic beverages warning of the adverse effects of consuming alcohol during pregnancy. Keywords Alcohol consumption - Pregnancy - Uganda - Antenatal care ---------- Contact Information Ajay K. Sethi Email: aksethi@wisc.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/fdd3343e/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:56:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:04:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Rise in Women Drinking Alcohol Notable in Recent Studies Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803215546.04529ef0@ncf.ca> http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/lifestyles/blogentries/index.html?bbPostId=BDxeeXDXrptfB13m2qhNsZaeBDnfsCnid92ZB1KqqZxUgvlQ&bbParentWidgetId=B8WEmaCx0B58A9xalDbvcAb The Herald News Joliet, Illinois HeraldNews Rise in Women Drinking Alcohol Notable in Recent Studies Wednesday, July 08, 2009 A recent study coming out of Canada showed that 1 in 25 deaths worldwide are attributed to alcohol. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) researchers concluded that a rise since 2000 was due to more women in the world drinking alcohol. Most of the deaths caused by alcohol were through injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease and liver cirrhosis. Here are some of the key findings of the study: * Even though most adults worldwide abstain from drinking alcohol, consumption is common in many parts of the world * For low-income countries, there is a strong relation between economic wealth and alcohol consumption: the higher the gross domestic product, the higher the overall volume of consumption and the lower the proportions of abstainers * Alcohol contributes substantially to the global burden of disease (4% of total mortality and between 4% and 5% of disability-adjusted life-years), and thus is one of the largest avoidable risk factors * Poor populations and low-income countries have an even greater disease burden per unit of alcohol consumption than do high-income populations and countries * The consequences attributable to alcohol account for large costs to societies; they are not limited to health-care costs, but also include costs related to social harm This last point was illustrated well in a recent CASA report. [CASA Spending Report Shows Maine Has Highest Burden of Substance Abuse and Addiction on a State Budget] Read more about the CAMH study: New study shows 1 in 25 deaths worldwide attributable to alcohol In other research news, women were also found to be binge drinking more in the United States, especially in college. The Washington University School of Medicine studied data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and found an overall reduction in binge drinking between 1979 and 2006. However, in that time period, binge drinking for women ages 21 ? 23 rose by 20% among non-students and a whopping 40% among college students. Most of the actual reductions in binge drinking came among males younger than 20. Researchers credited the 21 and over national drinking law as the cause for reduced binge drinking by teens. Of course, binge drinking rates for women ages 15 ? 20 were unchanged. Read more about the Washington University School of Medicine study: Higher drinking age linked to less binge drinking except in college students It is clear from both of these studies that more women are drinking at unhealthy rates and with unhealthy consequences. What seems to be missing from the studies is the why and what to do about it. Technorati technorati tags: women, drinking, alcohol, binge drinking, studies, research Posted in Alcohol, Current Events, Research, Substance Abuse, Women's Issues Tagged: Alcohol, binge drinking, Research, women [] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/00cb9b3f/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 22:57:58 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:04:16 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New study shows 1 in 25 deaths worldwide attributable to alcohol Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803215748.0452a038@ncf.ca> "...Overall, the proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths increased since 2000, mainly because of increases in the number of women drinking...." [Women mentioned 27 times in this report in Lancet: FASD or fetal alcohol not mentioned at all, Click on Lancet below]ER http://www.camh.net/News_events/News_releases_and_media_advisories_and_backgrounders/1_in_25_deaths_alcohol.html CAMH Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Toronto Media and Events > News releases and backgrounders Last updated: June 29, 2009 Published:Friday, July 10, 2009 4:05 PM New study shows 1 in 25 deaths worldwide attributable to alcohol New study shows 1 in 25 deaths worldwide attributable to alcohol, but CAMH researcher sees glass as half full For Release: June 26, 2009, (Toronto) Research from Canada?s own Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) featured in this week?s edition of The Lancet (PDF) shows that worldwide, 1 in 25 deaths are directly attributable to alcohol consumption. This rise since 2000 is mainly due to increases in the number of women drinking. CAMH?s Dr J?rgen Rehm and his colleagues found that alcohol-attributable disorders are among the most disabling disease categories within the global burden of disease, especially for men. And in contrast to other traditional risk factors for disease, the burden attributable to alcohol lies more with younger people than with the older population. Dr. Rehm still takes an optimistic ?glass half full? response to this large and increasing alcohol-attributable burden. ?Today, we know more than ever about which strategies can effectively and cost-effectively control alcohol-related harms,? Dr. Rehm said today. ?Provided that our public policy makers act on these practical strategies expeditiously, we could see an enormous impact in reducing damage.? The study showed that Europe had a high proportion of deaths related to alcohol, with 1 in 10 deaths directly attributable (up to 15% in the former Soviet Union). Average alcohol consumption in Europe in the adult population is somewhat higher than in North America: 13 standard drinks per person per week (1 standard drink = 13.6 grams of pure ethanol and corresponds to a can of beer, one glass or wine and one shot of spirits) compared to North America?s 10 to 11 standard drinks. The recent Canadian consumption rate is equivalent of almost 9 standard drinks per person per week age 15 plus, and has been going up, as has high risk drinking. Globally, the average is around 7 standard drinks per person per week (despite the fact that most of the adult population worldwide actually abstains from drinking alcohol). Most of the deaths caused by alcohol were through injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and liver cirrhosis. ?Globally, the effect of alcohol on burden of disease is about the same size as that of smoking in 2000, but it is relatively greatest in emerging economies. Global consumption is increasing, especially in the most populous countries of India and China.? CAMH is known for its pioneering research in the most effective ways of reducing the burden of alcohol. For example, CAMH endorsed the legislative change implemented this year requiring young Ontario drivers to maintain a 0% blood alcohol content; in many jurisdictions this measure has reduced alcohol-related crashes and saved lives. Other evidence-based policies proven to reduce harms include better controls on access to alcohol through pricing interventions and outlet density restrictions as well as more focused strategies such as violence reduction programs in licensed premises. Within health care, provision of screening and brief interventions for high risk drinkers has enormous potential to reduce the contribution of alcohol to the onset of cancer and other chronic diseases. ?There are significant social, health and economic problems caused by alcohol,? said Gail Czukar, CAMH?s executive vice-president, Policy, Education and Health Promotion. ?But research gives us sound, proven interventions that governments and health providers can use to address these problems.? To arrange an interview please contact Kirk LeMessurier, CAMH Media Relations, at 416 595 6015. - 30 - The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development, prevention and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues. Last updated: June 29, 2009 Published: Friday, July 10, 2009 4:05 PM ID#44696-N -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/f3145036/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:05:58 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:10:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] KidsFirst offers support group for dads: Saskatchewan Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803220549.02055970@ncf.ca> "...The group counselling sessions also helps the men deal with any problems they might have relating to their children, particularly children with developmental issues such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and encourages them to learn how to interact and play with the child...." KidsFirst offers support group for dads Anne Kyle. Leader Post. Regina, Sask.: Jul 18, 2009. pg. A.4 Recognizing that fathers can play a vital role in the lives of their children, the Regina Early Learning Centre KidsFirst program has created a support group for dads. The centre, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, is a head-start program for children ages one to five who are developmentally delayed or disadvantaged. "Because at the Early Learning Centre we look after the mothers and children (through the KidsFirst supportive home visit program), I think there is also a responsibility for the male to participate (in the programming and child-rearing) and not to put all of the onus on the female to look after the children," said Dave Pitre, a lifeskills counsellor who facilitates the dads' group. "I think it is part of maintaining a balance in the relationship. It is important that both male and female, the husband and wife or partners, participate in looking after the welfare and well-being of the child as the child grows up." The father's support group, which was launched this spring, is a voluntary program open to men whose partners are associated with the KidsFirst program, Pitre said. "We meet together as a group (once every two weeks from late August to June) and talk about overall emotional, social and spiritual issues with the fathers. It's about teaching them some lifeskills and helping them learn how to cope with things that come up in their relationships with their partner, wife or girlfriend," he said. "It is all about working on and building relationships." The group counselling sessions also helps the men deal with any problems they might have relating to their children, particularly children with developmental issues such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and encourages them to learn how to interact and play with the child. "Some of (these men) are struggling to keep their children. Some of them are having problems with regard to relating and how to react to their children so we are providing them with coping skills and lifeskills," Pitre said. "Our main focus is the children." The program has been averaging about eight dads per session, but can handle a maximum of 12, he said, noting participants range in age from 25 to 45 and many of the dads are single parents. "So far the reaction from the men has been very positive," Pitre said. Credit: Anne Kyle; Leader-Post -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/ddb7dcca/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:06:29 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:10:16 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Parenthood isn't for everyone Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803220619.02055ab8@ncf.ca> "...There are certainly plenty of examples of younger people having children without thinking the responsibilities through, such as women who don't stop drinking when they're pregnant and inflict terrible damage from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder..." Parenthood isn't for everyone Anonymous. Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alta.: Jul 21, 2009. pg. A.14 The recent death of the woman who at age 66 became the world's oldest mother again demonstrates the problems that can arise when people don't think sufficiently about what's best for their children before becoming parents. Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara gave birth to twin boys by caesarean section in December 2006, but within months was diagnosed with cancer and told the powerful drugs used during her fertility treatment could have helped spread the disease that ultimately killed her. She admitted lying about her age to receive the treatment. The single 69-year-old woman's family will take care of the children, but it would be better if the relatives didn't have to shoulder such a responsibility. Didn't it occur to her that, as a senior citizen, there was a greater chance of something going wrong? Advances in medical technology have only recently made it possible for women to reproduce at advanced ages, something men have been doing for millenniums. Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, for example, became a father when he was 71, while actor Tony Randall died at age 84, leaving behind children aged six and seven. But just because something can be done doesn't mean it always should be done. While some reports indicate geriatric second-time parents are more nurturing, tolerant and able to spend time with their kids than they had been at a younger age, there is always the danger of serious health problems that can interfere with the demands of child-rearing. That's not to say all seniors make bad parents. Most undoubtedly do an excellent job. There are certainly plenty of examples of younger people having children without thinking the responsibilities through, such as women who don't stop drinking when they're pregnant and inflict terrible damage from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or men who consider it a macho badge of honour to create kids they have no intention of helping raise. There is also jobless, single California "octomom" Nadya Suleman, 33, who says she dreamed of a large family and had octuplets in addition to six other youngsters. Everyone should first examine whether they have the physical and psychological skills needed to bring up happy, well-adjusted offspring before embarking on the serious job of parenthood. After all, it's not about you; it's about the kids. Credit: Edmonton Journal -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/a9978488/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:07:01 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:10:20 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol and pregnancy dangers discussed: New Zealand Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803220652.020556e0@ncf.ca> http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0907/S00132.htm Scoop Health Alcohol and pregnancy dangers discussed Wednesday, 29 July 2009, 9:45 am Press Release: Alcohol Healthwatch MEDIA RELEASE Wednesday 29th July 2009 Alcohol and pregnancy dangers discussed Canadian First Nations guest Jenelle McMillan and her son Jordan are in New Zealand to share their story to help New Zealand families, agencies and communities better respond to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause a range of adverse effects on fetal development. These effects are collectively known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). At one end of the spectrum, heavy drinking during pregnancy can result in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) which includes physical birth defects, brain damage and the characteristic facial features. At the other end are the more hidden disabilities related to brain damage that often go undiagnosed. These include impulsive behaviour and memory problems, difficulty understanding social cues and applying the rules, difficulty planning ahead and completing complex tasks. Left undiagnosed and therefore misunderstood, these are likely to lead to more serious consequences. Research shows that the affected people are at greater risk of experiencing mental health problems, school disruption, unemployment and even trouble with the law. With appropriate support these people can lead very successful lives. There is no known safe level of alcohol and no safe time during pregnancy. The brain is constantly developing and is susceptible to the damaging effects of alcohol. Efforts to support women not to consume alcohol during pregnancy must be increased as prevention is far better than cure. Efforts to support affected individuals and their families must also be increased. Alcohol Healthwatch has brought Jenelle McMillan, a skilled community educator, counsellor and birth mother, to New Zealand for a series of presentations on FASD. She is joined by her 18 year old son Jordan who will also be presenting on his experience of living with FASD. The series of five presentations are being delivered with the support of local agencies and marae. A formal welcome will be held at Orakei Marae in Auckland today at 10am before the presentations get underway tomorrow. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/262da88b/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:07:40 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:10:22 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Commitment to aboriginal education honoured: New Brunswick Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803220731.03b0c3b0@ncf.ca> "...Working with his students, MacDonald helped the First Nations community many difficult subjects, including fetal alcohol syndrome and teenage suicide, in a positive and educational manner...." Commitment to aboriginal education honoured Benjamin Shingler. Telegraph-Journal. Saint John, N.B.: Jul 29, 2009. pg. A.3 A teacher's commitment to aboriginal education during a career spanning four decades has being recognized with the province's highest honour. Peter MacDonald was given the Order of New Brunswick at a ceremony Tuesday for his role in preserving and promoting aboriginal culture and heritage and for his outstanding work and commitment to First Nations youth. "It's overwhelming," MacDonald said upon receiving the award from Lt.-Gov. Hermngilde Chiasson at Government House. "I must really thank the children that I taught. My whole life has been about empowering youth." The Miramichi-born teacher was one of 10 people who were awarded the honour in 2008, but was unable to attend the ceremony held last October. MacDonald, who obtained a degree in education from St. Thomas University, was the principal at the Eel Ground First Nation School from 1987 to 2008. He also worked with First Nation communities such as the Manitoba Cree, Quebec Cree, Ontario Objibwa and the Inuit. MacDonald made technology a focus at the Eel Ground school. Working with his students, MacDonald helped the First Nations community many difficult subjects, including fetal alcohol syndrome and teenage suicide, in a positive and educational manner. Roger Augustine, chief of Eel Ground First Nation more than 16 years ago, pulled a few strings to hire him to teach on the reserve more than 20 years ago. "From that moment on he was very assertive in a way, and he knew what the school needed, and I supported every move that he made," Augustine, who attended the ceremony, said. "He used technology as a tool to present issues that were devastating our community." MacDonald also raised three children - now all grown up - on his own while looking after a mother with dementia. Also receiving the Order of New Brunswick for 2008 were: Dalhousie playwright and actor Marshall Button; businessman Bernard Imbeault; industry titan James K. Irving; heritage crusader George MacBeath; First Nations educator Peter MacDonald; Acadian writer and teacher Marguerite Maillet; Saint John Painter Fred Ross; journalist Eldred Savoie; Marianna Stack, a crusader for marginalized and criminalized women; and former Lt.-Gov. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell. The Order of New Brunswick recipients for 2009 will be announced on New Brunswick Day this Monday. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/88d82d26/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:09:38 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Prenatal alcohol tied to kids' social problems Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803220917.03b0c120@ncf.ca> http://www.nationalpost.com/life/health/story.html?id=aeba529c-d3f8-42cc-a706-f4f5b9d742d7 National Post Life / Health Prenatal alcohol tied to kids' social problems Reuters Published: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who were exposed to large amounts of alcohol in the womb may have difficulty processing and reading emotions, leading to problems with their social skills and behavior, a new study shows. The study, published in journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, looked at emotional and social behavior among 33 school-age children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). FASD is an umbrella term for the lasting developmental effects seen in some children with prenatal alcohol exposure. Its most severe manifestation is fetal alcohol syndrome, which is marked by stunted growth, facial deformity and serious nervous system and behavioral problems. But more children develop what is known as alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, where only nervous system and behavioral problems are present. In the current study, researchers found that children with FASD had more trouble with processing their own emotions, as well as reading emotional and social cues from others. That was compared with 34 healthy children, as well as 30 with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition with which many children with FASD are mistakenly diagnosed. FASD and ADHD do share some characteristics, the investigators note, but while children with ADHD may have behavior issues and problems socializing, it is not because they lack the proper understanding of cues. "Our findings show that...overall, children with FASD have more severe behavioral problems," senior researcher Dr. Joanne Rovet, of the University of Toronto in Canada, said in a news release. The main problem, she explained, is "in understanding and interpreting another's mental states and emotions." The findings, according to the researchers, help clarify the "profile" of children with FASD. Based on her team's previous studies, Rovet said, children and teenagers with FASD appear more likely than their peers with ADHD to have more-serious, antisocial behavioral problems like cheating, lying and stealing. The findings also point to areas where children with FASD could be better helped: interpreting facial expressions and other social cues. "These difficulties predict their behavior problems and are linked to their social development," Rovet said. "It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions to deal with their unique deficits." SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, online July 16, 2009. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/57eb7d91/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:10:53 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol exposure before birth linked to social issues Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221045.03b0be90@ncf.ca> http://www.smartbrief.com/news/aanp/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=AB582EA5-ACED-40D4-80CD-F15296C13F0F©id=9FB5C833-D722-4A6F-8366-F9977E478322 SmartBrief Health Care [American Academy of Nurse Practitioners] Alcohol exposure before birth linked to social issues AANP SmartBrief | 07/29/2009 Researchers studying school-age children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders found those exposed to large amounts of alcohol before birth were more likely to have trouble processing and reading emotions compared with healthy children and those with ADHD. The study team said the interpretation difficulties could lead to problems with social skills and behavior. Reuters (07/28) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/1348836a/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:11:46 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Western Australia Kimberley health services Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221138.03ada2c8@ncf.ca> "...health workers claimed teenage girls born with fetal alcohol syndrome were giving birth to babies affected by the same syndrome...." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25851623-5013948,00.html The Australian Briefings July 29: Politics briefing UPDATED | July 29, 2009 Article from: The Australian Hungry Mile, indigenous health, under-insurance.... WESTERN AUSTRALIA Kimberley health services in focus Paige Taylor THE Barnett government is likely to face pressure over health services in the Kimberley today following a report that finds under-investment in mental and cultural health services, education and policing in Fitzroy Crossing. The findings are made in a government-commissioned assessment of the first year of severe alcohol restrictions in Fitzroy Crossing. Notre Dame University will release the report today amid an outcry over a decision to axe one of just three pediatrician positions in the region. The report found the landmark ban on the sale of full-strength takeaway alcohol in Fitzroy Crossing, which began in October 2007, has reduced street drinking and violence in the remote town, and improved the quality of care being received by children. The ban has since been extended to the Kimberley town of Halls Creek, where health workers claimed teenage girls born with fetal alcohol syndrome were giving birth to babies affected by the same syndrome. The report finds overwhelming community support for the restrictions in Fitzroy Crossing, and says the restrictions have resulted in health and social benefits for residents. But report author Steve Kinnane says the town continues to suffer from a lack of health and social support services. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/d6952c59/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:12:21 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:20 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] For pregnant women, drinking alcohol still bad choice Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221212.03ada038@ncf.ca> "...Seventeen-year-old Canadian Serena Nicotine was sentenced to seven years in a psychiatric institution in Saskatoon..." http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/lifestyles/1688950,4_5_JO29_FAS_S1-090729.article The Herald News Joliet, Illinois Lifestyles For pregnant women, drinking alcohol still bad choice, experts say July 29, 2009 By JEANNE MILLSAP For The Herald News Some people who have it describe fetal alcohol syndrome as a hangover that lasts a lifetime. When an adult woman drinks alcohol, her body metabolizes it, then it's gone. She might have some hangover symptoms the next day, like a headache, then she's back to normal. But if she's pregnant, the alcohol she drank can last her baby's entire life. Alcohol has quite an effect on little growing brains. Because babies' bodies can't metabolize alcohol away like adults can, alcohol levels will be higher in the babies' bodies for longer periods of time. That can damage brain cells, causing them to be malformed, and can harm other growing organs, as well. About 40,000 babies are born in America each year with fetal alcohol syndrome, or FAS. They can suffer a lifetime of physical and mental disabilities, including problems with learning, memory, attention, communication, vision, the heart or kidneys, the bones, hearing, birth defects, and difficulties in school and getting along with others. It can even lead to a life spent behind bars. Seventeen-year-old Canadian Serena Nicotine was sentenced to seven years in a psychiatric institution in Saskatoon for second degree murder after killing a 58-year-old woman. A few years before that, when she was only 14, Serena was convicted of drowning a child. Experts testified it was her fetal alcohol syndrome that played a big part in her not being able to control her behavior. It impaired her ability to think before she acts. The condition is irreversible and will affect her throughout her life. Preventable syndrome Fetal alcohol syndrome is one of the leading preventable causes of mental retardation and birth defects. Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Brian Egan has one word when asked if it's all right for a pregnant woman to consume even one alcoholic drink: No. "I would say no," he said. "Just a flat no." The problem stems from how alcohol affects a fetal brain. Egan said, in the womb, a baby's brain continues to develop throughout pregnancy, and even after delivery. Some other organs might develop in a particular trimester, but not the brain. Drinking alcohol anytime during pregnancy can affect the baby's brain, he said. Egan said science doesn't know the exact mechanisms of how alcohol damages the central nervous system during development, or even if there is one dose level that may be safe to drink. "We just don't know," he said. "Is one glass of wine OK, whereas a bottle of Jack Daniels is not? I'd say none of it is acceptable, because we just don't know . . . There is no acceptable minimal level that's OK." He does know that binge drinking appears to be worse on the developing baby, though. He defines binge drinking as five or more drinks in one sitting. Ancient history It's not a new discovery that pregnant women should not drink. Egan said in ancient Greece, pregnant women were not allowed to drink alcohol. Western medicine discovered the link about 30 years ago. Before then, it was considered fine for a pregnant woman to have a glass of wine now and then. Nursing mothers, Egan said, were even encouraged to have a glass of beer before nursing. That's not quite as bad, he said, but the alcohol does make it into the milk and to the baby, so he doesn't recommend it. "Maybe once in a great while," he said, "but you're on a very slippery slope with that." The numbers have improved over the past couple of decades, Egan said, of women who drink while pregnant, but the statistics have remained the same for one category: women who abuse alcohol in large amounts. These are the women who would be classified as alcoholics and, even though they might know drinking is wrong when pregnant, might not be able to stop without help. Nurse urges childbirth class for first-timers, and a list of classes. Page C4 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/03b93306/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 10:14:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:22 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] 1 in 2,000 have fetal alcohol syndrome Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803090838.041a6758@ncf.ca> "...The figures don't include children with the broader, so-called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, who don't meet the definitions for an official diagnosis but still suffer problems caused by alcohol during pregnancy...." http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090729/NEWS/907290422/1001/news StatesmanJournal.com Salem, Oregon News 1 in 2,000 have fetal alcohol syndrome Oregon is among 8 states in study of babies this decade By Tracy Loew ? Statesman Journal July 29, 2009 By Tracy Loew ? Statesman Journal ? July 29, 2009 About one of every 2,000 children born in Oregon is diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, the state's first-ever study of the syndrome's prevalence showed. Oregon is among eight states nationwide completing a five-year fetal alcohol syndrome tracking project funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers presented their results Tuesday to the Governor's Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs. They canvassed hospitals, pediatricians and clinics, and studied the medical records of every child born between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2006, who was at risk for or showed signs of the syndrome, program coordinator Lesa Dixon-Gray said. They identified a total of 96 children statewide who qualified for the diagnosis during that time. While the number does not seem high, the costs are significant, Dixon-Gray said. Each diagnosed child costs an estimated $2 million in added health care and education services over his or her lifetime, she said. In total, they cost the state about $68.3 million a year. "It may be a small disorder, but it's got a pretty hefty price tag," Dixon-Gray said. The figures don't include children with the broader, so-called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, who don't meet the definitions for an official diagnosis but still suffer problems caused by alcohol during pregnancy. Those include mental retardation, birth defects and learning disabilities. Alcohol causes more serious damage to the fetus than marijuana, cocaine or heroin, Dixon-Gray told the panel. Oregon's prevalence was about the same as the other states in the study, Dixon-Gray said. Researchers hope that the study will raise awareness among doctors and hospitals, who can help educate women about the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant. tloew@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6779 From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:13:14 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:25 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Galena official makes presentation about dangers of shaking infants [& FAS] Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221306.03ada6a0@ncf.ca> "...when summer is over, he will take his presentation to the schools...." http://www.joplinglobe.com/neo_sek/local_story_211001543.html?keyword=secondarystory The Joplin Globe Joplin, MO Published July 30, 2009 12:15 am - QUAPAW, Okla. ? Troy Newman on Tuesday used high-tech dolls to demonstrate to girl campers at Five Mile Camp the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse while pregnant, and of shaking a baby. ?I?m a grown man who plays with dolls,? Newman, the assistant police chief in Galena, Kan., joked with the girls, who responded with laughter. Galena official makes presentation about dangers of shaking infants By Roger McKinney rmckinney@joplinglobe.com [Photo] Globe/Roger Nomer Kausha Sayles (left), 11, hands a doll to Chelsie Tracy, 13, during a training program Tuesday at Five Mile Camp. The doll simulates tremors from fetal alcohol syndrome. QUAPAW, Okla. ? Troy Newman on Tuesday used high-tech dolls to demonstrate to girl campers at Five Mile Camp the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse while pregnant, and of shaking a baby. ?I?m a grown man who plays with dolls,? Newman, the assistant police chief in Galena, Kan., joked with the girls, who responded with laughter. Melissa Horne, a camp counselor, said the 10-week camp has included children from the Kansas school districts of Galena, Riverton, Pittsburg and Frontenac, and some Arkansas school districts as well. She said a different group of children attends every week. Newman said that when summer is over, he will take his presentation to the schools. ?Did you know you can abuse a child before it?s born?? Newman asked the girls. Campers correctly said that an expectant mother can abuse her fetus by smoking, drinking or using drugs. Using an electronic slide show, Newman provided statistics about the dangers. He said expectant mothers who use drugs or alcohol can cause prenatal death, premature birth and withdrawal symptoms in newborns, including tremors, muscle spasms and feeding difficulties. Newman also said the larger the amount and the longer the expectant mother smokes or uses drugs or alcohol, the greater the risk to the child. Newman passed around a doll with underdeveloped arms and legs and unusual facial features, representing an infant with fetal alcohol syndrome. Another doll that has tremors represents a drug-addicted infant. Newman also addressed the problem with shaking babies. He said 25 percent of shaken babies die of their injuries. He said many others suffer brain damage, or have blindness and other vision problems. He said men are more likely than women to shake babies. The girls were quick to volunteer what they thought the reasons are. They said boys are more aggressive, less patient and are less nurturing. Newman said the top reason someone shakes a baby is to stop it from crying. He used another high-tech doll with a clear plastic head to demonstrate the impact of shaken-baby syndrome. He shook the baby lightly, and red lights inside the doll?s head lighted. ?That?s brain damage right there,? Newman said. ?It doesn?t take much at all.? A more vigorous shaking turned on more lights in the doll?s head, representing worse injuries. Several of the girls tried the demonstration with the doll. ?It?s sad when the baby gets abused,? said Christina Hayward, 12, of Galena. Clarrisa Alexander, 12, of Pittsburg, said she learned that shaking a baby is dangerous and that it?s important to avoid using drugs when pregnant. ?If you shake a baby, even very lightly, you can do a lot of damage,? said Kelsee Abernathy, 12, of Galena. ?If the baby dies, you can go to prison. And when you?re pregnant, you don?t need to take drugs.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/13b8b29c/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:13:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:28 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Meetings to create awareness of FASD: Grande Prairie Alberta Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221342.0454fb90@ncf.ca> http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1679837 Grande Prairie Daily Herald Tribune Alberta News Local News / Regional Meetings to create awareness of FASD CHRISTOPHER MILLS ? Herald-Tribune staff Posted 3 days ago [as of Aug. 3, 2009] The Northwest Alberta Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder service network is hosting a series of meetings in the coming weeks. The network will make its way to Grande Prairie Provincial Building on Aug. 4, from 3-4:30 p.m., Room 1905. Carey Williams, co-ordinator for the network, said the goal of the meetings is to create more awareness. ?We want to let people know about the network, provide updates about what we?ve done with funding and how we?ve expanded our existing services; how we use the money to enhance and build upon things already existing in the community,? she said. Williams would also like to meet with community stakeholders to provide an update on activities of the network to date and to provide information about how and when agencies, organizations and societies can apply for network funding for 2010-2011. There will also be a discussion and question period with regards to the FASD initiative and community needs. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/b6e889c0/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:14:22 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:31 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] A brave Edmonton mayor says more cops doesn't mean less crim Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221414.0454f900@ncf.ca> "...develop programs to better deal with those people impacted by fetal alcohol syndrome..." http://www.citycaucus.com/2009/08/a-brave-edmonton-mayor-says-more-cops-doesnt-mean-less-crime Citycaucus.com A brave Edmonton mayor says more cops doesn't mean less crime Posted by Daniel in Editorial 1 Aug 2009 [Painting] Despite plummeting crime rates, Edmonton police await word from Mayor Mandel's office regarding how big their budget increase will be next year It takes a lot of guts for a mayor to come out publicly and say that more cops doesn't necessarily translate into less crime. That's because these types of factual statements don't get you votes and tend to make you a tad unpopular with the boys down at the precinct. However, that's exactly what Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel did this week when he spoke publicly about a number of recommendations that will be coming forward to his council regarding how to reduce crime in his city. As I've previously stated here on numerous occasions, police budgets in Canada's major cities are out of control. They are ballooning much faster than cities have the ability to pay. In fact, compared to other city departments, police budgets have seen steady year-over-year increases for as far back as the eye can see. That's why Mayor Mandel's comments and his approach to reducing crime and keeping a lid on tax increases is such a breath of fresh air. Rather than simply throwing millions more tax dollars at the crime problem by simply hiring more police, he's looking at innovative ways of getting at the root cause of crime. This means trying to prevent the crime before it actually happens. At this stage, the $400K report has not been made public, but he hinted to the Edmonton Sun regarding what we might expect to read in the coming months. He said you can expect recommendations such as: invest in more after-school programs, particulary between the hours of 3:30 to 6:00 pm develop programs to better deal with those people impacted by fetal alcohol syndrome create a new "centre for community safety" which will become a clearinghouse for Edmontonians wanting to participate in crime-prevention programs It does not appear at this stage that the mayor is brave enough to delve into the controversial subject of "tiered policing," however, there is still a possibility this could happen. We're placing a few calls into our Edmonton contacts to see if we can't get any additional advance information before this much anticipated report becomes public. No word yet from the Edmonton police union regarding their reaction to some of the report's early recommendations. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/0192d150/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Aug 2 17:57:07 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:16:33 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Children 'sleep badly' if mum drank in pregnancy Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090801074017.041764c8@ncf.ca> "...Drinking during pregnancy has previously been linked to low birth weights and developmental problems as well as foetal alcohol syndrome, where the infant is visibly abnormal as a result of the mother's heavy drinking..." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1203556/Children-sleep-badly-mum-drank-pregnancy.html Children 'sleep badly' if mum drank in pregnancy By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 3:57 AM on 01st August 2009 Children exposed to alcohol in the womb enjoy considerably less sleep Mothers who drink during pregnancy can disrupt their children's sleep for years afterwards, researchers say. Their study found that those exposed to alcohol in the womb enjoyed considerably less sleep. They were two-and-a-half times more likely to have a short sleep duration of 7.7 hours or less, and more than three-and-a-half times as likely to be asleep for just three-quarters of the time they actually spend in bed. The findings, published in the journal Sleep, are the first to make the association and were independent of body size at birth and current maternal alcohol use. Drinking during pregnancy has previously been linked to low birth weights and developmental problems as well as foetal alcohol syndrome, where the infant is visibly abnormal as a result of the mother's heavy drinking. Psychologist Katri Raikkonen, who studied 289 eight-year-olds, said even low levels of weekly pre-natal exposure to alcohol have adverse effects on sleep quantity and quality during childhood. Poor sleep and sleep disturbances are also associated with obesity, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and behavioural problems. Professor Raikkonen, of the University of Helsinki, said: 'The results were in accordance with the many studies that have shown adverse foetal environment may have lifelong influences on health and behaviour. 'It is well known that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy can have detrimental effects on the development of foetal organ structure and function, including the brain. 'However, this is among the few studies that have reported associations between birth variables and sleep quality and quantity among an otherwise healthy population of children.' The study also showed smaller body size at birth was associated with poorer sleep and a higher risk of sleep disturbances. In addition, children with short sleep duration were around three times as likely to have been born by Caesarean section. From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 3 23:15:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 3 22:22:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Ratify disability rights agreement now Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803221548.0454f670@ncf.ca> "...Ottawa inked the landmark United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (un.org/disabilities). Signed by 140 countries at last count, it emphasizes that people who move or communicate or process information differently from the majority are active and valued members of society...." "...And one of the key Canadian players who worked on getting the UN convention adopted sees "no sign of enthusiasm" for moving things along...." http://www.thestar.com/article/673156 Toronto Star Ratify disability rights agreement now Aug 01, 2009 04:30 AM Helen Henderson What can a six-foot-10 Turkish hoops star teach us that the Bank of Canada can't? When it comes to money, the financial capital that drives the economy, the central bank likes to think of itself as the last word. If it says things have bottomed out, we are meant to take heart. Personally I'd rather put my faith in our social capital. Social capital is all about our ability to live with each other, to build communities that include everyone. Toronto's reputation in that regard is reportedly one of the key factors that lured basketball's Hedo Turkoglu from the mighty Magic of Orlando to the, ahem, more modest northern Raptors. As his agent Lon Babby told the Star, Turkoglu's wife, Banu, liked the idea of bringing their baby daughter, Ela, to a place that included a strong Turkish community. The will to harbour people of all backgrounds and abilities is a key element of social capital. Way beyond the basketball court and the Bank of Canada, it is what will make or break us as a healthy society. Social capital underpins the very fabric of strong communities. It's easier to find in small spaces, much more elusive in giant urban environments, as the late Jane Jacobs, an icon among community builders, was fond of pointing out. But you gotta start somewhere. Every neighbourhood school that welcomes kids of all abilities into its classrooms is banking assets that will sustain future generations. Every playground that draws on the resources of all children is shaping adults who will treat each other with respect. And adults who treat each other with respect rule a world worth having. As a people, Canadians are used to thinking of themselves being rich in social capital. Not so much these days. Two years ago, Ottawa inked the landmark United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (un.org/disabilities). Signed by 140 countries at last count, it emphasizes that people who move or communicate or process information differently from the majority are active and valued members of society. They are entitled to inclusive schools, workplaces, affordable housing, transportation systems and communities. The House of Commons unanimously passed a motion calling for Canada to ratify the agreement after consulting with the provinces and territories. Ratification means agreeing to enact laws and shape policies that translate into meaningful change for the more than 4 million Canadians with disabilities. It also means abolishing laws and practices that discriminate against them. But here we appear to be dragging our feet. A spokesperson for foreign affairs did not return phone calls in time for this column's press deadline. And one of the key Canadian players who worked on getting the UN convention adopted sees "no sign of enthusiasm" for moving things along. "I don't see the type of collaborative dialogue here that we're used to on human rights issues in Canada," says Diane Richler, president of Toronto-based Inclusion International, a worldwide organization advocating for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities (inclusion-international.org). Coincidentally, Richler also notes there has been what amounts to a sea change on the issue south of the border. Under the administration of George W. Bush, the United States never gave much weight to UN protocols. But last week, as he marked the 19th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, President Barack Obama announced he had instructed UN Ambassador Susan Rice to sign the convention on the rights of people with disabilities. Now the treaty moves to the U.S. Senate for ratification. It took a special world committee a mere eight sessions over four years to get an agreement on disability rights adopted by the UN General Assembly. That makes it the fastest negotiated human rights treaty in UN history. helenhenderson@sympatico.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090803/411c7754/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 4 17:54:17 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 4 17:04:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alberta FASD Conference: Promising Practices Feb. 8-9, 2010 Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090802084954.03eec120@ncf.ca> The annual Alberta FASD Conference, Promising Practices, Promising Futures, will be held February 8 &9, 2010. This important multidisciplinary conference will feature keynote speaker Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire and plenary sessions with Dr. Bruce Perry and Dr. Mark Gold. This year's conference will also feature a special focus on strategies for managing caregiver and professional stress. Registration will open in November. Please see attached Notice for further information. [There is a] Call for Abstracts for anyone interested in presenting a breakout session at the conference. The deadline to submit an abstract is October 1, 2009. For any further information or questions, please contact Amanda Amyotte at (780) 422-6494. FASD Initiatives Community Partnerships Branch Alberta Children and Youth Services (780) 415-8150 http://www.fasd-cmc.alberta.ca/home/documents/docAdvanceNoticeFASD2010.pdf FASD Promising Practices, Promising Futures Alberta FASD Conference February 8-9, 2010 MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! NETWORK, SHARE AND LEARN... We invite you to join us in this important multidisciplinary conference focused on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and its impact on individuals, families, communities and society at large. The two?]day conference will feature Keynote speaker Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire, half-]day plenaries with Dr. Bruce Perry and Dr. Mark Gold, breakout sessions and a community showcase. This year'fs conference will also feature a special focus on strategies for managing caregiver and professional stress. CONFERENCE LOCATION: Hyatt Regency Calgary Hotel - 700 Centre Street SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 5P6. Phone: (403) 717?]1234 CONFERENCE HOTELS: A room block and special rates have been secured at the Hyatt Regency Hotel for conference delegates. Please reserve your rooms under the FASD Conference block. The conference room rate is $179 per night plus applicable taxes based on single or double occupancy. We strongly advise that you book your room as soon as possible as we anticipate that the room block will fill up quickly. OBJECTIVES AND THEME: Over the course of the two-day conference, participants can expect to: increase their knowledge on recent developments in the field of FASD in Alberta and Canada; network and share with people from all areas of the FASD field; and increase their understanding of lives affected by FASD. AUDIENCE: This conference will be of interest to: caregivers and families, individuals with FASD, teachers, teacher aids, social workers, nurses, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, physicians, alcohol and drug workers, mental health workers, community workers, family support workers, program providers, vocational rehab service providers, elected officials, government ministries, lawyers, and policymakers. REGISTRATION FEE: $150.00 Registration will open in November. Future details will be posted at www.fasd-cmc.alberta.ca. For additional information or any questions, please contact Amanda Amyotte at (780) 422?]6494 or Amanda.Amyotte@gov.ab.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090804/d3794251/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 4 18:05:01 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 4 17:10:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Substance Abuse Prevention Dollars and Cents: A Cost Benefits Analysis: U.S. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803223015.03dabd98@ncf.ca> http://www.jointogether.org/news/funding/trends/2009/substance-abuse-prevention.html Join Together News - Funding News Substance Abuse Prevention Dollars and Cents: A Cost Benefits Analysis July 26, 2009 Looking to convince policymakers that they should fund your prevention program? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has just released a new publication that can help you build a case for support. Substance Abuse Prevention Dollars and Cents: A Cost Benefits Analysis "is designed to help policymakers and other stakeholders use the results of cost-benefit analysis as an information tool for decision making and for selecting the substance abuse prevention programs that best apply available resources toward addressing their needs," according to SAMHSA. The report details the extent of substance abuse among youth, costs of substance abuse to the nation and to states, cost savings that could be gained if effective prevention policies, programs, and services were implemented nationwide, and programs and policies that are most cost beneficial. The costs of untreated addiction also is examined, along with the anticipated return on investment in prevention programs. The report is available free online (PDF, 64 KB). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090804/58791070/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 4 18:10:57 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 4 17:16:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Almost nine in ten support alcohol health warning labels: Australia Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090803223033.03dabd98@ncf.ca> http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2009/08/03/almost-nine-in-ten-support-alcohol-health-warning-labels-study-claims.html AFN Thought for food Australian Food News South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Almost nine in ten support alcohol health warning labels, study claims August 3, 2009 James Ferre A survey commissioned by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) has indicated that the majority of Victorians support the introduction of labels detailing health information on alcohol products. VicHealth has been a key promoter of the push toward warning labels on alcohol products akin to those on cigarette packages (graphic images aside). And a statewide survey commissioned by the health group has implied strong support from the public - or, at least, limited resistance - with 85 per cent of respondents reporting support for the scheme. "The message is clear. Victorians support mandatory consumer information labels on all alcohol products, so they can make more informed decisions about their drinking," VicHealth Chief Executive Officer Todd Harper, said. The VicHealth Community Attitude Survey to Alcohol Policy 2009 asked people a range of questions including their drinking habits, their views on the accessibility and advertising of alcohol, how they thought alcohol should be taxed and whether they supported labels on alcoholic beverage containers. Survey respondents rated their support for the following specific details on alcohol labels: * 85 per cent supported recommended daily guidelines for low risk alcohol consumption; * 89 per cent supported a warning message advising that exceeding the recommended guidelines may be harmful; * 91 per cent supported health warnings for specific groups - eg pregnant women, young people; * 76 per cent supported nutritional information; * 86 per cent supported a list of ingredients; * 93 per cent supported details of type of alcohol used in premixed drinks; * 95 per cent supported a standardised display on the number of standard drinks in the container; and * 96 per cent supported a standardised display of the alcohol content. "The significance of these responses lies in the attitudinal change of Victorians. Nine out of every ten people agreed that alcohol is a serious issue in our community," Mr Harper said. Graphic and/or humorous labels were not perceived as wise options, rather considered, informative messages were sought. "Victorians said they most preferred labels that told them something they did not already know," Mr Harper noted. "They wanted facts presented in simple, clear, and unambiguous language." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090804/6468f5e3/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 10:59:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 10:08:18 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal Alcohol Babies: Edmonton Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805095859.03886528@ncf.ca> From another elist Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:18:31 -0700 (PDT) From: Lynn Subject: http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/Home.aspx Hi Everyone, Our local radio station in Edmonton, Alberta has done an editorial on FASD. They have a blog where people can comment on the editorial. Since the media responds to the popularity of an item and base future programming on it, the more people that respond to this editorial the more awareness this issue will receive. If any of you have the time (or energy) to send off a quick comment, please do - Thanks. Just click on the link below and scroll down to the comment box, you don't have to register or anything, just type your comment and send. http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/Home.aspx One more thought, could those of you that belong to other groups, please forward it on to them. Thanks. http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/Home.aspx Bob Layton's Editorial Fetal Alcohol Babies [] Posted 8/5/2009 1:00:00 AM A couple of times a year we hear about fetal alcohol babies. We hear about mothers who drink while pregnant. We hear about the problems these children have throughout their lives, and the cost to society both in money and heartache when a placement of one of these children leads to injury or death. Then, when we?re finished clucking our tongues, the story goes away. Away from the headlines, but not away from the files of foster parents or social workers or police. Vicki writes to wonder when someone will bell this cat. She says FASD is in the news every day. These unfortunate mentally deficient souls may be the ones robbing a store or the ?dumb criminals? with poor judgment we like to laugh at. We cannot lock expectant alcoholic mothers up, even though some have had several of these babies and show no sign of stopping. Vicki wishes we would start in high school making drinking uncool the way we have with cigarettes and drugs, especially during pregnancy. If you have a better way to stop the cycle of fetal alcohol babies, please let me know. Note: If you wish to leave a comment, please keep it down to 1-5 lines, unless you wish us to edit it. Your comment will not appear on the blog until it has been cleared by Bob. Where it asks for your URL ? leave it blank. You have until 8 tomorrow morning to collect 630 CHED Insider Trading points by entering the code word: 148HERE. Posted By: Bob Layton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090805/29645c88/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 14:26:37 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 13:30:23 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Nine out of 10 want alcohol health warnings: Australia Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805132629.03b7bc00@ncf.ca> http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25871745-29277,00.html News.com.au Sydney, Australia National Breaking News Nine out of 10 want alcohol health warnings AAP August 02, 2009 07:56pm A VAST majority of Victorians support the placement of health warnings on alcohol products, a VicHealth survey has found. The survey of more than 1500 people across the state, conducted in February and March this year, found 89 per cent of respondents supported a warning message on containers advising that exceeding recommended alcohol intake could be harmful. Ninety-one per cent wanted health warnings about alcohol for specific groups such as young people or pregnant women. Eighty-five per cent favoured having recommended daily intake guidelines on alcohol containers to indicate low-risk levels of consumption. Nutritional information on alcohol containers had 76 per cent support, while 93 percent wanted information on the type of alcohol used in pre-mixed drinks. VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper said consumers wanted to be better informed. "The message is clear. Victorians support mandatory consumer information labels on all alcohol products so they can make more informed decisions about their drinking," Mr Harper said. Mr Harper said on-pack consumer information was a quick and effective way to reduce harm, as it had been with cigarette health warnings. Robin Room of Melbourne's Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre said product labels would do more than just provide a little bit of information about alcohol. "Adding health information also helps to establish an understanding in the community that alcohol is a special and hazardous commodity," Professor Room said. Local manufacturers already place health warnings on exported alcohol, Mr Harper said. Related Coverage * Health warnings on alcoholic drinks Herald Sun, 3 Aug 2009 * Reader's Comments: Nine out of 10 want alcohol warnings NEWS.com.au, -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090805/97398b58/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 14:53:17 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 14:06:34 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Join NOFAS-UK for the Pregnant Pause Event 2009 Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805133753.03e66958@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Pregnant pause2009.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 728582 bytes Desc: not available Url : /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090805/e7149330/Pregnantpause2009-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 14:57:24 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 14:06:45 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Poor sleep in children may have prenatal origins Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805135716.03e68bd0@ncf.ca> http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/08/01/poor.sleep.children.may.have.prenatal.origins e! Science News Poor sleep in children may have prenatal origins Published: Saturday, August 1, 2009 - 05:36 in Health & Medicine A study in the Aug.1 issue of the journal SLEEP found that alcohol consumption during pregnancy and small body size at birth predict poorer sleep and higher risk of sleep disturbances in 8-year-old children born at term. Findings are clinically significant, as poor sleep and sleep disturbances in children are associated with obesity, depressive symptoms, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and poor neurobehavioral functioning. Results indicate that children exposed prenatally to alcohol were 2.5 times more likely to have a short sleep duration of 7.7 hours or less and 3.6 times more likely to have a low sleep efficiency of 77.2 percent or less across all nights, independent of body size at birth and current maternal alcohol use. Smaller body size at birth also was associated with poorer sleep and with a higher risk for clinically significant sleep disturbances among children born at term. More specifically, lower weight and shorter length at birth were associated with lower sleep efficiency, and a lower ponderal index (an indicator of fetal growth status) was associated with the presence of sleep disturbances. In addition, children with short sleep duration were more likely to have been born via Caesarean section than were children sleeping longer (23.1 percent versus 8.4 percent respectively). According to principal investigator Katri R?ikk?nen, PhD, in the department of psychology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, even low levels of weekly prenatal exposure to alcohol have adverse effects on sleep quantity and quality during childhood. "The results were in accordance with the fetal origins of health and disease hypothesis and the many studies that have shown that adverse fetal environment may have lifelong influences on health and behavior," said R?ikk?nen. "However, this is among the few studies that have reported associations between birth variables and sleep quality and quantity among an otherwise healthy population of children." The epidemiologic cohort study obtained data from 289 children born at term (from 37 to 42 weeks of gestation) between March and November 1998. Sleep duration and sleep efficiency (actual sleep time divided by the time in bed) were measured objectively by actigraphy at 8 years of age for an average of 7.1 days. Parents completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children to report sleep problems and sleep disorder symptoms such as bedtime resistance and sleep disordered breathing. Results show that the odds for low sleep efficiency increased by 70 percent for every standard deviation decrease in weight at birth and by more than 200 percent for every decrease in length. For every standard deviation decrease in ponderal index at birth, the risk of parent-reported sleep disorders increased by 40 percent. Associations were not confounded by sex, gestational length, prenatal and perinatal complications, body mass index (BMI) at eight years of age, asthma, allergies or parental socioeconomic status. The authors report that small body size at birth may function as a crude marker of disturbances in the fetal environment, and it is associated with prematurity, intrauterine growth retardation, prenatal alcohol exposure and poorer sleep quality in children and young adults. Results demonstrate that among children born healthy and at full-term, a linear relationship exists between smaller body size at birth and poorer sleep quality eight years from birth. Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090805/7d4c236c/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 16:11:18 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 15:16:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New Study Seeks to Help Combat Effects of Alcohol on Fetal Brain Development Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805151106.03b73fb0@ncf.ca> http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2009/new-study-seeks-to-combat.html Join Together News Headlines New Study Seeks to Help Combat Effects of Alcohol on Fetal Brain Development July 17, 2009 News Summary A new U.S. study of pregnant women in the Ukraine will seek to determine if the prenatal nutrient choline could help protect the fetus from the potential harmful effects to their brain development caused by the mother's drinking, the Associated Press reported on June 22. Christina Chambers, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues will study more than 600 Ukrainian women who admit to drinking while pregnant. The researchers will counsel the women to stop drinking and randomly chose which women will take a generic daily vitamin and which will take a daily vitamin boosted with 750 milligrams of choline. Choline, a nutrient found in food such as liver and eggs, is a precursor to a chemical in the brain that plays a vital role in learning. Currently, pregnant women are advised to ingest 450 mg of choline from food daily. Chambers' research was sparked by a San Diego State University animal study that exposed pregnant rats to alcohol and extra choline during a surge in the rat pups' brain development in the third-trimester. Led by Jennifer Thomas, the San Diego State researchers found that the extra choline the mothers and pups received significantly improved the pups' later ability to learn. With humans, however, "whether you'll be able to intervene when the woman's drinking is highly questionable," said Thomas. Currently, the only help for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is intense behavioral or educational treatment once they reach preschool or school age, according to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090805/71236b26/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 16:11:45 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 15:16:23 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Study: FASD Often Confused with ADHD, But Symptoms More Severe Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805151137.03e14b18@ncf.ca> http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2009/study-fasd-often-confused.html Join Together News - Research News Study: FASD Often Confused with ADHD, But Symptoms More Severe July 20, 2009 Research Summary Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) share many attributes, and children with FASD are often misdiagnosed as having ADHD. However, a recent study found that children with FASD have a harder time understanding social information than their peers with ADHD, and are at a higher risk of psychiatric problems, Forbes reported July 17. The Children's Mental Health Team at Surrey Place Centre in Toronto studied 33 youth with FASD, 30 with ADHD, and 34 with neither of the disorders to gauge their social-cognition skills and their ability to process emotions. They found that while FASD and ADHD both are characterized by similar behavioral problems -- such as a limited attention span, restlessness and severe impulsivity -- children with FASD had more difficulty interpreting the mental state and emotions of others. These problems can lead to even more serious behavioral problems, including lying and stealing, according to researchers. "It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions to deal with their unique deficits," said Joanne Rovet, co-author of the study and a University of Toronto professor. The study is set to appear in the October 2009 edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090805/1f53fcbb/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 5 16:27:13 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 5 15:34:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD release: Forgetful Frankie Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090805152704.044142e8@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 6 09:12:34 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Aug 6 08:16:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Chicagoland Motorcycle F.A.S.T. Ride to Fight Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090806081226.03fc0620@ncf.ca> http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-04-2009/0005071175&EDATE= Chicagoland Motorcycle F.A.S.T. Ride to Fight Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: 150-mile Charity Ride and Barbeque Set for August 16 CHICAGO, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Drinking alcohol while pregnant increases the chances that a child will have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Although this disorder affects 40,000 infants a year, more than Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome and Muscular Dystrophy combined, it is still relatively unaddressed. The Chicago-area FASTeam and a group of motorcycle enthusiasts are riding to raise awareness with the 2009 F.A.S.T. Ride. Where: Galway's Bar & Grill 12045 W. Roosevelt Road Elmhurst, IL The ride is 150-miles through the western suburbs When: Sunday August 16 Registration is at 8:00 AM Ride starts at 9:30 AM Riders will experience police-stopped intersections for non-stop riding enjoyment. There will also be a light lunch at the Moose Lodge in Morris Illinois. The group will return to Galway's Bar & Grill at 3:00 PM for a post-ride party which will also feature a dinner buffet, a live band and raffles with prizes ranging from cash to plasma and flat-screen televisions. "We started the ride in 2004 and last year we had over 400 riders," said Walt Teichen, Chairman of the FASTeam Board of Directors and who co-founded the organization in 2003 with his wife Kathy. "Personally, my own family has been dramatically impacted by FASD and that has driven our commitment to help other families and FASD individuals get the help they need. The mission of the FASTeam is to raise awareness of and aid in the prevention of FASD and the motorcycle ride is one of the many ways we reach so many people while raising funds for the cause." Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders is an umbrella term that describes the different outcomes that can occur if a woman drinks alcohol while pregnant. FASD includes the diagnoses of: * Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), * Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE), * Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (PFAS), * Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND), and * Alcohol-Related Birth Defects (ARBD). Each differs in terms of physical, mental, and behavioral disabilities and can include learning disabilities, mental retardation, hyperactivity and behavior problems. The U.S. Surgeon General recommends several steps to avoid alcohol-related birth defects, including: * A pregnant woman should not drink alcohol during pregnancy * A pregnant woman who has already consumed alcohol during her pregnancy should stop in order to further minimize risks. * A woman who is considering becoming pregnant should abstain from alcohol. F.A.S.T. Ride sponsors include DKM Insurance Advisors, K Squared Communications, Galway's Bar & Grill, Geico Insurance, Illinois Harley-Davidson, Law Tigers, Meritan Health, Peerless, Personal Preference, Inc., SportDecals and TCF Bank. About FASTeam Fetal Alcohol Support Team, FASTeam, is dedicated to raising the awareness of and aid in the prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. More information about the annual charity motorcycle is available at www.fastride.us or by calling 630 418 3300. For more information about the FASTeam or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder visit www.fasteam.org. SOURCE FASTeam -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090806/c3feb555/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 8 11:41:34 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 8 10:46:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Ontario: Engaging Parents In Their Children's Education: apply for a grant Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090808104125.03d77560@ncf.ca> [Thanks to a colleague who sent this and suggested applying for a grant for an FASD initiative. We need Ontario FASD initiatives. I checked the list for school council projects for 2008-2009 and found none for FASD, but three for alcohol & drug awareness in Lambton/Kent, Ottawa at Frank Ryan Catholic Senior Elementary School & Toronto. None for FASD or alcohol in regional/provincial projects. Note that applications are open for regional/provincial grants available to ....non-profit organizations, volunteer-sector associations...] ER http://www.news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2009/05/engaging-parents-in-their-childrens-education.html Ontario Newsroom Engaging Parents In Their Children's Education May 20, 2009 2:24 PM McGuinty Government Gives Parents More Time To Apply For Local Grants School councils have an extra three months to apply for grants that support local projects with a focus on parent involvement. The deadline to apply for Parents Reaching Out grants is October 16, 2009. By lengthening the application period, school councils will be less pressured by the rush at the beginning of the school year. Last year's school council grants were used for initiatives including bullying prevention and literacy workshops. Applications are also open for regional/provincial grants available to parent organizations, school boards, non-profit organizations, volunteer-sector associations or postsecondary institutions working in partnership with parents. QUICK FACTS * Research has shown that one of the most important indicators of student achievement is the involvement of parents in the education of their child. * Since 2006, the government has awarded almost 4,000 Parent Reaching Out grants to school councils and over 150 regional/provincial grants. * There are 123 Parenting and Family Literacy Centres in high-needs neighbourhoods to get parents involved in their child?s learning before they start school. LEARN MORE * Apply for a 2009-10 school council grant * or regional/provincial grant. * Read the lists of Parent Reaching Out grants that were funded in 2008-09 for school council projects * and for regional/provincial projects. * Find out how you can get involved in your school council. * ontario.ca/education-news "Children do better in school when their parents are engaged in their learning. These grants provide the assistance many school councils need to connect with parents in the community." ? Kathleen Wynne Minister of Education -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090808/cacdf8b0/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 8 13:21:34 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 8 12:28:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Don't drink alcohol while pregnant Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090808122126.03e6da88@ncf.ca> http://www.newtimesslo.com/letters-to-the-editor/3044/dont-drink-alcohol-while-pregnant/ New Times SLO San Luis Obispo, California Letter To The Editor The following article was posted on August 5th, 2009, in the New Times - Volume 24, Issue 1 Don't drink alcohol while pregnant perinatal educator, San Luis Obispo Tess Stapleton, RN Abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy is not a ? polarized, puritanical view ? as Mark Jansen expressed (?Health department concern is unwarranted,? July 23) in response to the July 16 article by Kylie Mendonca (?Drinking while pregnant?). The article was not clear in its delivery of information. Abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy will prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The neural growth of a fetus and infant starts at conception and continues through the first year of life. There is a reason our legal drinking age is 21: Alcohol has severe effects on the maturing brain and our society has protected our young by setting standards. Therefore, abstaining from alcohol while breastfeeding is advised, too. The public health department and other agencies are trying to educate the community and set a clear standard for our county. With huge cuts in our state funding of education it would be wise to be proactive in our prevention of learning disabilities and strive to have children who can actively learn in a regular classroom. The article did not mention the economic impact of special education or lost productivity for children born with the effects of alcohol. I would encourage the reporter to attend a Beginnings meeting and learn of our countywide collaboration of agencies that provide services to pregnant women. It is a collaboration of nonprofit, for-profit, and government agencies, all working together to provide clear and accurate information on substance use during pregnancy. The organization does not focus on the .5 per 1000 or the 4.5 per 1000 incidence of disorders from drinking while pregnant but it is about achieving zero per 1000 by educating pregnant women about the risks of consuming alcohol and drugs. It is important that clear, accurate information is given to our citizens so they can make the best decisions for themselves. Nine months of pregnancy and zero alcohol equals zero fetal alcohol disorders for our young. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090808/cae562b3/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 8 13:22:18 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 8 12:28:15 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Mom turns in assault suspect for violating his bail: CA Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090808122202.03eb48e8@ncf.ca> "...Tiedemann, who is Hansen's adoptive mother and said her son suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome,,," http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090806/NEWS01/908060375/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02 The Coloradoan Fort Collins, CO Mom turns in assault suspect for violating his bail BY NATE TAYLOR ? NateTaylor@coloradoan.com ? August 6, 2009 A man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Loveland girl was arrested Saturday for violating conditions of bail after his mother reported he had used her credit card to buy $72 worth of merchandise, according to an arrest affidavit. Jonathan Ryan Hansen, 21, had been allowed to live in a room above his mother's small business, where Kim Tiedemann told a judge she could supervise her son 24 hours a day and help keep him out of trouble. He was also wearing a GPS ankle monitor and submitting blood and urine samples for drug and alcohol testing. Hansen was out on bond suspected of being one of three men who raped a teenage girl during a three-day span after she was taken to Hansen's Fort Collins apartment by a 15-year-old boy. Tiedemann, who is Hansen's adoptive mother and said her son suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, called Fort Collins police Saturday to report that Hansen used her credit card without permission, according to the affidavit. The document indicates Hansen purchased merchandise at several locations and signed his mother's name to the merchant's copy of the receipts. A new bond has been set at $5,000, which is half the amount originally set in the case. Hansen was still being held at the Larimer County jail Wednesday evening. Tiedemann in the past has been outspoken about her son's need for consistent medication and treatment for alcohol abuse. She tried to convince a judge last year to sentence Hansen to jail so he could receive daily medications after he pleaded guilty to assaulting her. Instead of jail, the judge sentenced Hansen to probation. According to Hansen's arrest affidavit, he and David Andrew Baker, 20, had sex with the 14-year-old girl while she was staying at Hansen's home in February after she was taken there by an unnamed 15-year-old boy. Because the affidavit is redacted, it is not clear whether a third man, John Carlos Garcia, 22, also had sex with the girl. Hansen, Baker and Garcia have all been charged with sexual assault. The 15-year-old reached a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this year, but because he is a minor, the Larimer County District Attorney's Office cannot reveal specific charges or the details of the agreement. Hansen is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 17 after his attorney had arranged for him to undergo a mental health evaluation. He was set to either accept a plea agreement or enter a not guilty plea and set a trial date. Both Garcia and Baker are also considering plea agreements, and they are scheduled to appear in court Monday and Aug. 28, respectively. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090808/4836f452/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Aug 9 10:37:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Aug 9 09:40:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Dear President Obama let me tell you about FASD Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090809093648.03c3ea70@ncf.ca> From the FASDAY elist Date: Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:30:43 -0800 From: Cheri Scott Subject: FW: Dear President Obama let me tell you about FASD As part of International FASD Awareness Day, please join us in this easy, free activity to help raise awareness of FASD at the highest levels of our government. This idea originated with Tami Eller, a member of our local FASD Council. Cheri Scott FASD Family Support Project Stone Soup Group 307 E. Northern Lights Blvd. #100 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 907-561-3701 907-561-3702 fax 877-786-7327 toll free www.stonesoupgroup.org >A knowledge of the path cannot be substituted >for putting one foot in front of the other. M.C. Richards > >---------- > > >Dear President Obama > >Let me tell you about FASD... > > > >International FASD Awareness Day Letter Writing Campaign > > > > > >Did you know that President Obama reads 10 >letters each night written by everyday Americans? > > > >Imagine if every letter the President read was >written by someone whose life is impacted by >Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. > > > >If everyone affected by FASD writes to the >President prior to 9/9/09 then the probability >of him opening even one letter regarding FASD is >incredible. The more letters, the higher the >probability that all ten letters he reads will >be written by those affected by FASD. > > > >Are you a parent of a child with FASD, are you >an adult with FASD, does your sibling have FASD, >do you teach a child or an adult with FASD, are >you a grandparent of a child with FASD. For >everyone person born affected by prenatal >exposure to alcohol, everyone who loves that >individual lives are also affected. > > > >Join us in educating President Obama regarding >the most prevalent of all birth defects: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. > > > >Join us in asking President Obama to ring a bell >at 9:09am on September 9, 2009 to recognize the >importance of Nine Months of an Alcohol Free Pregnancy. > > > >Starting the week of September 1, 2009 send a >letter to President Obama telling him your story >of how Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders have >affected yourself and those you love. > > > >Send President Obama a letter to at: > >President Obama > >The White House > >1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW > >Washington, DC 20500 > >Must be mailed by August 17th. > >Send President Obama an email by filling out the form at: > >http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ > >Talking Points > > > * The Facts: > * Fetal alcohol exposure is an international and national crisis > * Prenatal exposure to alcohol causes permanent brain damage > * Prenatal exposure to alcohol is the > leading cause of mental retardation > * Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are > 100% and easily preventable ? simply no alcohol consumption during pregnancy > * Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are a > life long disability ? from cradle to grave > * More babies are born with Fetal > Alcohol Spectrum Disorders than Autism Spectrum Disorders or Downs Syndrome > * There is no safe amount of alcohol to drink during pregnancy > * It is estimated that more than half of > the prison population is affected by FASD > * Prenatal exposure to alcohol costs the > United States millions of dollars a year to > provide services to individuals affected by a FASD > * Early identification and intervention > has huge impacts on the reduction of mental > health concerns and behaviors resulting in legal intervention > * Even with early identification and > intervention, individuals with a FASD will need to lifelong supports > * The Daily Realities of Living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders > * As a Parent: > * Struggles with you have raising your child with FASD > * Struggles you have explaining the > invisible brain damage to others who deal with your child > * Struggle finding appropriate services for your child > * The lesson you have learned in > your journey of raising a child affected by FASD > * Your dreams for your child > * As an Adult affected by FASD > * Struggles you had to overcome in your lifetime > * Strengths and talents you have > * Accommodations that enable you to be successful > * As a Profession working with individuals affected by FASD > * What systematically is working for your clients > * What systematically is not working for your clients > * Struggles your clients face on a daily basis > * Struggles you face on a daily > basis in obtaining resources for your clients > * What resources are necessary for your clients to be successful > * What needs to happen > * Proclamation by the President of the > United States recognizing September 9th as > International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders > Awareness Day and the importance of abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy > * Ask him to ring a bell at 9:09am on > September 9, 2009 in recognition of the individuals affected by FASD. > * Diagnostic teams in all 50 states to > facilitate and identify early diagnosis and intervention > * More resources toward prevention and early intervention -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090809/32d913f7/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 19 09:13:02 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 08:42:37 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD: Finding Hope: Additional Telecasts Oct. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819081255.04660330@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 00:23:40 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 23:28:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Baby surprise Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819232330.03cd9f28@ncf.ca> "...Tremendous risks are associated with denial of pregnancy. Drinking can cause fetal alcohol syndrome..." BABY SURPRISE Cathy Gulli. Maclean's. Toronto: Jul 27, 2009. Vol. 122, Iss. 28; pg. 42, 1 pgs [Headnote] One out of 2,500 women doesn't know she's pregnant It was early in the morning when Kimberlie Bunch woke up with excruciating stomach cramps and nausea. As the aching in her right side got worse, she worried that her appendix might burst. When Bunch's boyfriend came home from work, he found her writhing in agony, surrounded by unexplained blood splatters. They rushed to the ER, where the nurse asked if Bunch was pregnant. The answer was an unequivocal no: Bunch was using birth control, had irregular periods, and hadn't gained weight. But within minutes, a doctor told Bunch that she was in labour. "At that point I thought I was dreaming," recalled Bunch on an episode of I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, a paranoia-inducing TV show documenting women who experience a condition called "denial of pregnancy." Unlike concealment of pregnancy, which occurs when a woman hides the fact that she's expecting, denial of pregnancy happens when she is unaware of being pregnant. After Bunch gave birth, she was dumbfounded. "You're taught all these things that you should expect when you're pregnant, like morning sickness and weird cravings," she said, "but I never had any of that." Bunch's story is shocking, but not unique. Although no Canadian statistics exist, a German study showed that for every 2,455 pregnancies, one woman won't know she's expecting until she delivers the baby. (A Welsh study found a similar ratio, one in 2,500.) In fact, denial of pregnancy is three times more likely than having triplets. "The common view that denied pregnancies are exotic and rare events is not valid," concluded pioneer Jens Wessel at University Clinic Charit? in Berlin in the 2002 study. Of the 65 Berlin women with denial of pregnancy, 42 weren't diagnosed until they were in labour or their third trimester. Many had been pregnant before, and their median age was 27. Nearly all the mothers kept the baby, and carried to full-term. Astoundingly, four sets of twins were delivered. Most of die women were employed, had a relationship with the baby's father and lived with their partner. Stunned moms abound. Last mondi, April Dawn Halkett of Prince Albert, Sask., was acquitted of abandoning her baby after she unexpectedly gave birth in a Walmart washroom and then fled. In the U.K., two days before last Christmas, Tina Cook didn't know she was having a baby "until I got to the hospital and felt the head." Labour pains have been mistaken for the flu, cancer, cysts and kidney stones. Jamie-Lynn Spears apparently had liposuction while she was unknowingly pregnant. And a new memoir called What I Thought I Knew by New York playwright Alice Eve Cohen describes how her pregnancy, at age 44, was misdiagnosed as menopause. These women face one question: " 'How did you not know for nine months?' " as a mom said on the TV show. When she didn't get her period, she took pregnancy tests for two months, and all were negative. (Halkett testified that she took three tests and none indicated she was pregnant.) Researchers suspect that some women possess a chemical that obscures the test's ability to detect pregnancy, but that's rare, says Charles W. Simpson, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and a gynecologist-obstetrician who testified at the Halkett trial. Similarly confusing is the irregular bleeding diese women mistake for a period. In the Berlin study, 46 per cent of the women had their periods during pregnancy, some for eight months or longer; 12 per cent had irregular cycles. The authors called this a "mystery." Another 15 per cent had been on birth control pills. What's more, some women pack on so few pounds that they assume their tightening waistbands are due to overindulgence. Others carry so much excess weight that manifestations such as a growing belly or a baby kicking go undetected. Simpson, who has delivered babies in two cases of denied pregnancy, says that one patient was massively obese. "There would be no way we would know she was pregnant based just on looking at her," he recalls. There is also the question of clarity of mind. Simpson says that half of these women have a psychiatric disorder such as a delusional syndrome. But in the Berlin study, mental illness was present in only tiiree of 65 participants. "The majority of the recruited women were 'normal,' " wrote the authors. Tremendous risks are associated with denial of pregnancy. Drinking can cause fetal alcohol syndrome, says Simpson, and smoking leads to low birth weights. Without prenatal care, maternal problems such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes may go undiagnosed. Where the mother delivers unexpectedly and alone, the baby may not progress through labour properly, says Simpson, or receive enough oxygen. That's why researchers such as Wessel have called for greater awareness of denial of pregnancy. "There seems to be," Wessel has written, "no other condition as dangerous and potentially lethal to mother and child that is being ignored." Not for long. [Sidebar] HALKETT TESTIFIED that she took three pregnancy tests and all turned out to be negative -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090819/6dd60da2/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 00:24:01 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 23:28:18 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Study finds binge drinking can alter brain functioning Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819232351.03c7be58@ncf.ca> "...'That has immediate consequences that I'd worry about much more....they get into physical fights, they have sex they didn't intend to have..." http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/live/article/280301--binge-drinking-affects-brain-function-of-university-students-study-suggests metronews.ca Edmonton Canada Study finds binge drinking can alter brain functioning LAUREN LA ROSE August 12, 2009 5:36 a.m. TORONTO - Binge drinking could lead to nursing more head troubles than a hangover - it could alter brain functioning and memory, a new study suggests. Researchers conducted a study of first-year Spanish university students to look at the impact binge drinking had on their attention and visual working memory processes. The study defined binge drinkers as males who drink five or more standard alcoholic drinks within a two-hour interval on one occasion. Women who drank four or more drinks under the same conditions were classified as binge drinkers. A total of 95 students from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwest Spain ranging in age from 18 to 20 took part. Forty-two students - including 21 females - were classified as binge drinkers. The remaining 53 - including 26 females - were identified as "control" students - those who didn't drink enough to raise concerns. A technique known as event-related potential, or ERP, was used to examine the participants in the study, which is slated to be published in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. An ERP is the electrophysiological brain response to internal or external stimuli. Researchers paid close attention to monitor the negative and positive waveforms in the brain that are components of ERPs. The waveforms are associated with attention and working memory processes and have been shown to be particularly sensitive to alcohol. Researchers found healthy young university students - meaning those with no alcohol use disorder, drug use, alcohol dependence or associated psychiatric disorders - who engaged in binge drinking required more attentional effort to complete a given task. That said, the task was still executed correctly. "These electrophysiological differences found suggest the need on the part of binge drinkers for greater attentional processing during the task in order to carry it out correctly," corresponding author Alberto Crego wrote in an email to The Canadian Press. The ERPs were recorded during a visual "identical pairs" continuous performance task. Abstract figures were randomly presented in the centre of a computer monitor placed 100 centimetres in front of the subject's eyes. Students were instructed to press a button when two consecutive identical stimuli appeared and not to respond in the other cases. That meant they had to maintain each figure present in their working memory and had to respond if the next figure was the same. Crego said the differences observed in the study may reflect impairment in both attention and working memory processes. "Despite adequate performance, if alcohol-induced disruption increases, then performance-related problems may emerge." What's more, researchers write that it has been suggested that the adolescent brain is more sensitive to the "neurotoxic effects" of alcohol and binge drinking than the adult brain, especially structures of the brain that mature later on in development. But Crego notes that further research is needed to clarify the effects of binge drinking on working memory. Longitudinal studies are also needed to understand the evolution of the binge drinking pattern "and of associated neurofunctional and behavioural alterations," he wrote. Florence Kellner, senior research and policy analyst with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, said the real significance of the research "might be a bit up in the air." "What we don't know really is the long-term impact, which is will (these) differences endure in later life," she said in an interview from Ottawa. "One thing we do know is that young students when they drink heavily they tend to clean up their acts quite a bit when they graduate, get jobs and have their families, especially when they have children, that's the tendency." Kellner said what's of more immediate concern and consequence surrounding youth and heavy drinking involves those who do so simply for the sake of getting drunk. "That has immediate consequences that I'd worry about much more than I would worry about the brainwaves," she said. "People get into arguments, they get into accidents, they get into physical fights, they have sex they didn't intend to have and on and on and on." "If they can't get up the next day to attend class and to study. If they get themselves hurt, if they lose friends, if they get into accidents - it does have consequences." According to the 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey, individuals aged 18 to 24 who had consumed alcohol in the past year had the highest percentages when it came to weekly heavy drinking. Heavy drinking was defined as having five or more drinks on one occasion for men, and four or more drinks for women. The survey found 16.1 per cent of 18-to 19-year-olds and 14.9 per cent of 20-to 24-year-olds engaged in heavy weekly drinking. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090819/74af34c9/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 00:24:17 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 23:28:22 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Awareness Day: Timmins, Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819232408.03cae098@ncf.ca> http://www.timminstimes.com/Calendar/Info.aspx?c=29155&calsel=8%2F10%2F2009 Timmins Times, Ontario August 10, 2009 Events Calendar Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Awareness Day Where: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day Timmins Native Friendship Center Timmins When: Monday, August 10, 2009 Wednesday, September 09, 2009 Web: http://www.porcupinehu.on.ca/Family_Health/Planning_a_Pregnancy/fasd.html September 9th is International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Day. FASD causes serious social and behavioural problems and is the leading cause of developmental delay in Canada. One child is born with FASD every day. There is no cure for FASD but it can be prevented if communities support pregnant women and their partners to not drink alcohol during pregnancy. It's just not work the risk! This year we will be hosting a Mocktail event at the Timmins Native Friendship Center on Wednesday September 9th, 2009 from 9:30am-11:30am. Please come and join in the fun for the entire family, including games for children, refreshments, and information booths. As a special treat this year we have a contest between three bartenders from different restaurants to create the most delicious Mocktail for pregnant women. Sponsored by the FACT Coalition, community partners raising awareness about FASD. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090819/d518bc1a/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 00:24:55 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 23:28:27 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Bobula's books in greater demand: "Forgetful Frankie" Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819232446.03cea5b0@ncf.ca> http://www.timminstimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1696662 Timmins, Ontario News - Local News Bobula's books in greater demand Updated 7 days ago [as of August 19, 2009] [Photo] Timmins author Kathy Bobula, right, presented her series of We are Powerful books to Kristin Murray, a high risk social worker for Akwe:go at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre last week. Bobula says the specific nature of the books puts them in high-demand by those seeking a greater understanding of childhood disorders. Timmins author and educator Katherine Bobula's latest work ?Forgetful Frankie? is in high demand as FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) awareness day approaches. The day will be observed on September 9 to help people get a better understanding of the problems related to FASD. In a timely fashion, author Bobula, recently released her fifth children's book on FASD. ?Forgetful Frankie? is part of the WE ARE POWERFUL children's book series. It is the story of a boy with FASD. who helps people understand what it feels like to have FASD and talks about his daily challenges at home and at school and how people react towards him. Bobula says the book is being acclaimed as an essential book for children, parents and educators. ?Forgetful Frankie? is entertaining and fun but does not dismiss the issues facing FASD. Bobula says agencies are rallying sponsors to provide their communities with this highly praised FASD book for September 9th. As orders from around the globe roll in, the M?tis Child and Family Services for the province of Manitoba ordered over 200 copies, she said. FASD long-time sponsor, The Brewers Association of Canada, will provide all participants at the 10th Annual Fetal Alcohol Canadian Expertise (Face) Research Roundtable Conference this year in Toronto, with a copy of ?Forgetful Frankie?. Present for the official release of "Forgetful Frankie" at the FACE conference will be the Minister of Health David Caplan. The WE ARE POWERFUL children's book series ,written by Bobula and her sister Jill, include books on the comorbidities associated with FASD such as AD/HD and Autism. FASD is difficult to diagnose, as a result children and adults have not been left undiagnosed and may live a life filled with insurmountable challenges that often lead to incarcerations. FASD is the result of maternal drinking while pregnant. The foetus does not develop as it normally would and there may be cognitive impairment, growth delays and many other complicating factors such as the many comorbidities associated with FASD: oppositional defiance disorder, AD/HD, autism, conduct disorder, depression and more. Many children affected with FASD have a sleeping disorder, food sensitivities to gluten for example. Until identified, children with FASD live in a state of confusion and frustration. They often forget and are unable to transfer learning from one situation to another. They are unable to understand the concept of consequences, which leads to many more challenging situations for them. Bobula says children with FASD often have behavioural problems. The difficulty arises when people forget that these behavioural problems are largely due to the cognitive impairment, which is a physical developmental impairment. The same amount of patience one has with an autistic child, is the amount of patience one should display towards a child affected with FASD. Children with FASD can be vulnerable on so many levels. They are genuine, naive and often lack maturity for their age. They are spontaneous and playful and by no means reserved. ?Forgetful Frankie? is a must for FASD Day and is available at www.wildberryproductions.ca or by calling 1-866-602-5462. Article ID# 1696662 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090819/10d866b6/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 00:25:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 23:28:30 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol, pregnancy workshop: Kerikeri New Zealand Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819232504.03c8f2b8@ncf.ca> http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/northland/local-news/bay-chronicle/2743170/Alcohol-pregnancy-workshop Stuff.co.nz New Zealand Alcohol, pregnancy workshop The Bay Chronicle Last updated 05:00 13/08/2009 An alcohol and pregnancy workshop will be held at Kingston House, Kerikeri, on August 18 from 10am to 3pm. Key speaker Jenelle McMillan is a community educator and counsellor from Canada who specialises in the topic of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. She will share her knowledge from the perspective of an educator skilled in the teachings of Canadian first nations, and her personal journey as a birth mother of a son born affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. Jenelle's son Jordon, now 19 years old, will also be talking about his own experience. The workshops with Jenelle McMillan form part of community awareness action in association with the Fetal Alcohol Network New Zealand, which is coordinated by Alcohol Healthwatch. Contact (09) 520-7037 or email christine@ahw.org.nz. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090819/9d0ab92f/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 00:26:37 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 19 23:28:33 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Lawmakers target fetal alcohol syndrome: Colorado Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090819232523.03c171e0@ncf.ca> "...The state bill also encourages licensed alcohol vendors to post a health warning sign on the possible side effects of drinking during a pregnancy...." http://denver.yourhub.com/Brighton/Stories/News/Politics/Story~645868.aspx YourHub.com Denver, Colorado Brighton News - Politics Lawmakers target fetal alcohol syndrome Contributed by: Joey Kirchmer/yourhub.com on 8/12/2009 A state effort to heighten awareness of the dangers of mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy is getting under way thanks to the efforts of two Adams County lawmakers. State Rep. Judy Solano and State Sen. Lois Tochtrop sponsored legislation this year designed to take a serious look at curbing what are known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Their bill- H.B. 1139 - went into effect Aug. 5. The legislation, which went into effect Aug. 5, creates a 10-member commission charged with studying the issue and coming up with recommendations on how the state can curtail fetal disorders caused by alcohol, Solano said. The ultimate goal is to launch a statewide awareness program stressing the importance of avoiding any alcohol during pregnancy. "You would think most people would know not to do this, but there's a lot of misinformation out there," said Solano, a Brighton Democrat. "There are people who still believe one or two drinks are not going to hurt you. That's just not true." Although most pregnant women avoid alcohol, recent data shows some buck the trend. A 2006 survey compiled by the Colorado Pregnancy Risk Assessment System estimated 11 percent of women in Colorado drank alcohol in the last three months of their pregnancy. "There is a definite need for awareness in Colorado," said Eileen Bisgard, executive director of No Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) Colorado, an organization dedicated to working with children affected with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. "Unfortunately, it's kind of a hidden issue." Pregnant women had been advised to limit exposure to alcohol for years, but in 2005 U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona went a step further, saying no amount of alcohol can be considered safe during pregnancy. Alcohol consumed during pregnancy, he said, increases the risk of certain birth defects, including growth deficiencies, facial abnormalities, central nervous system impairment, behavioral disorders and intellectual development. The state bill also encourages licensed alcohol vendors to post a health warning sign on the possible side effects of drinking during a pregnancy. "It is unbelievable there has been no recommendations up until now that bars and liquor stores have warnings to prospective mothers about the devastating effects of drinking alcohol while pregnant," said Tochtrop, D-Thornton. The commission is scheduled to make a presentation to legislative health committees by Dec. 1, Bisgard said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090819/2d0ed1fd/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Aug 21 11:19:14 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Aug 21 10:22:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FACE Research Roundtable Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090821101048.042fd648@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Agenda1.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 33425 bytes Desc: not available Url : /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090821/88475a2b/Agenda1-0001.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Registration Form_Ext.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 19561 bytes Desc: not available Url : /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090821/88475a2b/RegistrationForm_Ext-0001.pdf -------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Aug 21 12:16:03 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Aug 21 12:52:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Kinship caregiver study Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090821111520.040d8cb8@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: resilientgrandparent.doc Type: application/msword Size: 24576 bytes Desc: not available Url : /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090821/5410632c/resilientgrandparent-0001.doc -------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 20 23:32:04 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Aug 21 12:52:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Woman Sentenced for Drunken Breast Feeding - North Dakota Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090820223015.04528c90@ncf.ca> http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2009/woman-sentenced-for-drunken.html Join Together News - Headlines Woman Sentenced for Drunken Breast Feeding August 12, 2009 A judge in North Dakota has sentenced a woman who pled guilty to child-neglect charges for breast-feeding her daughter while drunk to 18 months in prison, with all but six months suspended, the Associated Press reported Aug. 7. Judge Sonja Clapp also told Stacey Anvarinia, 26, that she should enroll in an addiction-treatment program to earn credit toward completion of her sentence. Appearing before the court, Anvarinia apologized for her actions and pledged to get her daughter back from state custody. Anvarinia's case sparked an international debate over the legality of pursuing criminal charges for alleged drunken breast-feeding. From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:15:24 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Possibly a sufferer of fetal alcohol syndrome Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822091516.0415d738@ncf.ca> "...The young men ? Steinke is the product of an alcoholic mother and a series of her abusive partners and possibly a sufferer of fetal alcohol syndrome ? are far less mysterious than the seemingly studious, obedient, intelligent girls of good background who moved them about like chess pieces...." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/what-are-these-little-girls-made-of/article1244615/ Globe & Mail From Saturday's Books section What are these little girls made of? Two journalists try to uncover what would make a 12-year-old girl murder her entire family. It's not an easy question to answer Reviewed by Christie Blatchford Last updated on Saturday, Aug. 08, 2009 03:42AM EDT I began to read Runaway Devil as the case of Melissa Todorovic was winding to a close in the Toronto courts. The ?runaway devil? is an online nickname for the girl who can only ever be identified as J.R. As advertised, she was all of 12 when she and her older boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, carried out their plan to do away with her whole family in their Medicine Hat, Alta., home, the carnage discovered on April 23, 2006. It was mostly J.R.'s plan and she was its driving force and its brains; Steinke was the brutal tool who did all or most of the killing. * Runaway Devil: How Forbidden Love Drove a 12-Year-Old to Murder Her Family, by Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose, McClelland & Stewart, 270 pages, $29.99 J.R. claimed to have half-heartedly tried to choke her eight-year-old brother, Jacob, and to have stabbed him only the once before allegedly being unable to continue. For his part, Steinke admitted stabbing and slashing her parents to death, but claimed it was J.R. herself who slit the little boy's throat. .... [Nothing more about fetal alcohol] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/f3777caa/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:46:52 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:16 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New CTIS Collaboration With WIC to Help Women Avoid Risky Drinking During Pregnancy Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822094648.041c5660@ncf.ca> "...The launch of the study is a prelude to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month in September and the 10th annual FASD Day on September 9, 2009...." http://au.sys-con.com/node/1071550 Cloud Computing Journal www.cloudcomputing.sys-con.com From the Wires New CTIS Collaboration With WIC to Help Women Avoid Risky Drinking During Pregnancy First-of-Its-Kind Study Uses Web-Based Platform to Assess and Deter Alcohol Consumption By: Marketwire . Aug. 13, 2009 05:55 PM SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/13/09 -- The California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) -- a non-profit housed at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and serving the entire state of California -- has joined with San Diego State University's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in a project aimed to prevent alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, CTIS will evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted web-based alcohol program that aims to measure and reduce current alcohol consumption among low-income non-pregnant women participating in WIC's Special Supplemental Nutritional Program. "Our mission is to educate women on risks and to promote a healthy pregnancy outcome," said Dr. Christina Chambers, the program director of the CTIS Pregnancy Risk Line and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. "Heavy prenatal alcohol use is a common known cause of adverse effects in a developing baby and is completely preventable. This program has great potential to address this critical issue using 21st century technology." The new web-based program is adapted from the "electronic-Check Up To Go" (e-CHUG), originally developed at San Diego State University (SDSU) as an alcohol assessment and intervention tool, and is currently being used successfully in over 300 college campuses throughout the U.S. The e-CHUG program draws on motivational interviewing and social norms feedback to motivate individuals to reduce their alcohol consumption. Through formative research, the e-CHUG program was specially redesigned to address alcohol consumption in women of childbearing potential. CTIS played a large role in ensuring the appropriateness of the modified program, a first of its kind for WIC in the alcohol field. "The web-based platform of the study is unique as it allows it to be more specific and interactive than other existing computer-based programs," said Katia Delrahim Howlett, a doctoral candidate and the principal investigator of the CTIS study. "CTIS hopes to see the program feedback positively influence participants by increasing awareness of the negative affects of alcohol use during pregnancy." CTIS will test the effectiveness of the adapted program through a small-scale two-group randomized controlled trial, with and without the addition of a web-based personalized feedback. The feedback is intended to reduce risky alcohol use within WIC participants, as defined by the consumption of three or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion. Qualified and consenting participants will be randomly assigned to complete the web-based assessment and will receive either general health feedback or personalized feedback intervention. All participants will complete follow-up assessments on reported alcohol consumption after one month and two months. If the findings of the preliminary study demonstrate that the program is effective, CTIS will continue to validate its findings through additional studies. If the program is further validated, it has the potential to be implemented as a cost-effective program of similar nature into different types of clinical settings. The goal will be to appropriately and accurately assess multiple health behaviors in order to provide appropriate feedback and health education to improve health outcomes of pregnancy. The launch of the study is a prelude to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month in September and the 10th annual FASD Day on September 9, 2009. FASD Awareness Day is promoted by the National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Washington, D.C. Founded 27 years ago and housed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, CTIS offers a free Pregnancy Risk Information Line at 1-800-532-3749 that fields questions (in both English and Spanish) about exposure concerns and where to find medical advice and referral resources to pregnant and breastfeeding women and their families. Recently, CTIS launched a new website (www.ctispregnancy.org) that provides links to the most current information about potentially harmful exposures -- from illnesses to environmental toxins and hazardous occupational materials -- before, during and after pregnancy. It also can lead women and their families and health care providers to other knowledgeable resources and teratology professionals that specialize in birth defects caused by exposures during pregnancy. For more information about CTIS or its free telephone and online services, call 1-800-532-3749 or visit www.ctispregnancy.org. Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine CONTACT: Audrey Doherty/Stephanie Heliker Chemistry (619) 236-8397 Email Contact -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/26816831/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:17:52 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:19 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New CTIS Collaboration With WIC to Help Women Avoid Risky Drinking During Pregnancy Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822091742.041c4708@ncf.ca> "...The launch of the study is a prelude to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month in September and the 10th annual FASD Day on September 9, 2009...." http://au.sys-con.com/node/1071550 Cloud Computing Journal www.cloudcomputing.sys-con.com From the Wires New CTIS Collaboration With WIC to Help Women Avoid Risky Drinking During Pregnancy First-of-Its-Kind Study Uses Web-Based Platform to Assess and Deter Alcohol Consumption By: Marketwire . Aug. 13, 2009 05:55 PM SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/13/09 -- The California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) -- a non-profit housed at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and serving the entire state of California -- has joined with San Diego State University's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in a project aimed to prevent alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, CTIS will evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted web-based alcohol program that aims to measure and reduce current alcohol consumption among low-income non-pregnant women participating in WIC's Special Supplemental Nutritional Program. "Our mission is to educate women on risks and to promote a healthy pregnancy outcome," said Dr. Christina Chambers, the program director of the CTIS Pregnancy Risk Line and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. "Heavy prenatal alcohol use is a common known cause of adverse effects in a developing baby and is completely preventable. This program has great potential to address this critical issue using 21st century technology." The new web-based program is adapted from the "electronic-Check Up To Go" (e-CHUG), originally developed at San Diego State University (SDSU) as an alcohol assessment and intervention tool, and is currently being used successfully in over 300 college campuses throughout the U.S. The e-CHUG program draws on motivational interviewing and social norms feedback to motivate individuals to reduce their alcohol consumption. Through formative research, the e-CHUG program was specially redesigned to address alcohol consumption in women of childbearing potential. CTIS played a large role in ensuring the appropriateness of the modified program, a first of its kind for WIC in the alcohol field. "The web-based platform of the study is unique as it allows it to be more specific and interactive than other existing computer-based programs," said Katia Delrahim Howlett, a doctoral candidate and the principal investigator of the CTIS study. "CTIS hopes to see the program feedback positively influence participants by increasing awareness of the negative affects of alcohol use during pregnancy." CTIS will test the effectiveness of the adapted program through a small-scale two-group randomized controlled trial, with and without the addition of a web-based personalized feedback. The feedback is intended to reduce risky alcohol use within WIC participants, as defined by the consumption of three or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion. Qualified and consenting participants will be randomly assigned to complete the web-based assessment and will receive either general health feedback or personalized feedback intervention. All participants will complete follow-up assessments on reported alcohol consumption after one month and two months. If the findings of the preliminary study demonstrate that the program is effective, CTIS will continue to validate its findings through additional studies. If the program is further validated, it has the potential to be implemented as a cost-effective program of similar nature into different types of clinical settings. The goal will be to appropriately and accurately assess multiple health behaviors in order to provide appropriate feedback and health education to improve health outcomes of pregnancy. The launch of the study is a prelude to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month in September and the 10th annual FASD Day on September 9, 2009. FASD Awareness Day is promoted by the National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Washington, D.C. Founded 27 years ago and housed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, CTIS offers a free Pregnancy Risk Information Line at 1-800-532-3749 that fields questions (in both English and Spanish) about exposure concerns and where to find medical advice and referral resources to pregnant and breastfeeding women and their families. Recently, CTIS launched a new website (www.ctispregnancy.org) that provides links to the most current information about potentially harmful exposures -- from illnesses to environmental toxins and hazardous occupational materials -- before, during and after pregnancy. It also can lead women and their families and health care providers to other knowledgeable resources and teratology professionals that specialize in birth defects caused by exposures during pregnancy. For more information about CTIS or its free telephone and online services, call 1-800-532-3749 or visit www.ctispregnancy.org. Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine CONTACT: Audrey Doherty/Stephanie Heliker Chemistry (619) 236-8397 Email Contact -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/1dc1a333/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:18:14 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:22 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: U.S. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822091805.01fc4580@ncf.ca> "...They may have been born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome..." http://www.examiner.com/x-16128-Chicago-Grandparenting-Examiner~y2009m8d16-Grandparents-Raising-Grandchildren examiner.com National - Family & Home Grandparents Raising Grandchildren August 16, 6:34 PM ? Peggy O'Connor - Chicago Grandparenting Examiner [Photo] Grandfamilies - AP Photo In 2010, it is anticipated that the numbers will reflect that approximately six million children are being raised in grandparent headed households. Some households will consist of extended family, including the biological parents. However, at least three million will be households where the grandparents are raising the grandchildren because the biological parents cannot, or will not. Addiction and mental illness, for the most part, are the culprits that have stolen the parents away from their children and placed them in the care of their grandparents. According to Generations United, approximately 80% of these grandparents are carrying the financial burden of the raising their grandchildren. The vast majority of the grandparents fall into the middle or upper middleclass, which means their incomes are not sufficient to raise a second family. Where there is addiction or mental illness, the grandparents are also faced with caring for their adult children Some may take the children under the state foster care program. In Illinois, this means an average income of $361/$446, dependant on age of child. This is not true income as it is intended as reimbursement for children?s expenses. Under the foster care program, the children receive a medical card to cover healthcare, both physical and mental, and dental care. The majority of grandparents take the children in without the benefits of the foster care program for various reasons. They may not qualify, and the rules of foster care leave the children in danger of being removed from the care of family and placed with strangers. With the benefit of foster care, insurance, if obtainable, is carried by grandparents. If not, grandparents must pay out of pocket for healthcare. School admission costs, clothing, transportation, food and other expenses are also burdened by the grandparents. Most must delve into their retirement funds to afford the care the children need. While there are programs in place, the majority of grandparents do not qualify because they own a home, work, or have a set retirement fund. These incomes count against their eligibility in obtaining help from programs developed to help care for the children. The grandchildren may have multiple problems, both mentally and physically. They may have been born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or Crack/Cocaine addiction. They may be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, or Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and/or Attachment Disorder. While it has been proven that the children do well in the care of the grandparents, the baggage from abuse and/or neglect comes with them. Educators and grandparents need to work together to help them through the transition. There are many agencies working to recognize the job being done by these grandparents, but laws need to be changed to allow them to qualify for assistance. If you are interested in this subject, here are some links to follow. http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/foster-care-maintenance-payments.pdf www.grandfamilies.org www.grandfamiliesofamerica.com en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfamilies www.gu.org/Defin8191322.asp grandparents.about.com/od/.../g/Grandfamilies.htm www.state.il.us/aging/1aboutidoa/coa.htm Author Peggy O'Connor is an Examiner from Chicago. You can see Peggy's articles at: "http://www.Examiner.com/x-16128-Chicago-Grandparenting-Examiner" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/ad6d280e/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:18:29 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:30 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Aboriginal discrimination probe: Australia Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822091821.041c2120@ncf.ca> "...As a school teacher, Ms O'Reeri taught children suffering the permanent effects of fetal alcohol syndrome..." http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/World/Story/STIStory_417884.html The Straits Times Singapore Breaking News - World Aug 17, 2009 Aboriginal discrimination probe CANBERRA (Australia) - A UNITED Nations indigenous rights expert said Monday that Australian government policy to stamp out child abuse in Outback communities appeared to discriminate against Aborigines. But the UN special rapporteur on indigenous human rights, James Anaya, said he would reserve his judgment on the government's intervention in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory until the end of a 12-day fact-finding mission that officially began on Monday. The federal government suspended its anti-discrimination laws to implement its response to a Northern Territory government-commissioned report in 2006 that found child abuse was rampant in remote Aboriginal settlements. The government then imposed strict measures in 2007 aimed at protecting children from abuse. Alcohol and hard-core pornography were banned from Aboriginal communities and indigenous inhabitants were forced to spend a portion of their welfare checks on family essentials like food. Activists say these measures violate human rights because they target Aborigines only. Professor Anaya, an American professor of human rights law, said suspending anti-discrimination laws to apply the measures appeared to be a discriminatory act. 'On its face yes, but I'm not expressing a conclusion about whether or not that's justified at this time,' Prof Anaya told reporters. 'I'll talk about my views at the conclusion of my visit.' Prof Anaya, the first UN official in his post to visit Australia, was given a bleak picture of the plight of Outback Aborigines in a welcome speech by indigenous community leader Mary O'Reeri in the national capital Canberra. Ms O'Reeri, 39-year-old mother of four, spoke of life in the suicide-plagued community of Billard Burr in Western Australia state in a remote region where Aborigines as young as nine had recently taken their own lives. Two of her brothers, aged in their 20s, hanged themselves three years apart from the same ceiling fan. As a school teacher, Ms O'Reeri taught children suffering the permanent effects of fetal alcohol syndrome and saw teenage drug addicts living in homes where parents smoked marijuana for breakfast. She spoke of her own childhood, living a 'chaotic and frightened life' as a 12-year-old pushing beds against a bedroom door to protect herself and younger siblings from the sexual advances of drunken relatives. 'People like me don't need to read the newspaper to know how cheap life has become in Aboriginal communities,' Ms O'Reeri said. 'We see it literally every day of the week.' -- AP -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/7a021ecc/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:32:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:34 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Pregnant women told to stop drinking: Australia Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822091850.041f88c0@ncf.ca> http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25954397-661,00.html Herald Sun Melbourne, Australia Pregnant women told to stop drinking Renee Viellaris August 20, 2009 12:00am PREGNANT women will be told to give up booze - and could be confronted with warning labels on alcohol products. The Rudd Government's preventive health taskforce says it is "impossible to set a safe or no-risk drinking level". Current guidelines advise pregnant women not to have more than seven standard drinks a week and no more than two standard drinks within two hours in one day. Those guidelines are based on research indicating that fewer than one drink a day has no measurable impact on the physical and mental development of children. But the taskforce report, to be released soon, says pregnant women should be urged to abstain. Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce backs the report. "A small amount - one drink (a night) may have some measurable impact on the fetus," he said. "We just don't know." But he said it was important women not panic if they had a binge before finding out they were pregnant. The current guidelines say abstinence is not recommended in part because it could result in "disproportionate anxiety" and "precipitous decisions to terminate a pregnancy". Women are frustrated with the conflicting advice, and are calling for universal recommendations based on scientific evidence. Doctors warn against excessive drinking - defined as six to eight drinks every day -- because it can cause alcohol fetal syndrome, a condition where children have "pixie-type" ears and smaller brains. They also have severe learning difficulties. Some children exposed to lesser amounts of alcohol have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which is linked to behavioural problems. A research paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia by Townsville Hospital director of neonatology John Whitehall calls on pregnant women to give up alcohol. "Implying that one drink a day (but never on Sundays) is safe rejects abundant literature," Dr Whitehall said. "I do not believe that the national guidelines represent national grassroot agreement. "They appear to be based more on wishful thinking than on evidence. "This guiding principle (that up to seven drinks a week will not harm the baby) has no margin for safety." Guidelines in France and Netherlands advise pregnant women to give up the booze. The US goes further, urging women planning to have a baby to stop drinking before they get pregnant. The World Health Organisation also urges pregnant women to stop drinking. "It is not known whether or not there is any safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy," it says. "Nor is it certain if any particular stage of pregnancy is the most vulnerable to the effects of drinking. "In the absence of demonstrated safe limits, abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy is recommended and should be encouraged." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/a8fe2ebc/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:33:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:37 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Bill would prohibit minors from drinking even with parents: Wisconsin Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822093302.0420bed8@ncf.ca> "...the state account for the highest rates of binge drinking, drunk driving, fetal alcohol syndrome and teenage drinking in the country...." http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10955745 WKOW 27 Madison, Wisconsin Bill would prohibit minors from drinking even with parents Posted: Aug 19, 2009 11:16 AM EDT Wednesday, August 19, 2009 11:16 AM EST MADISON (WKOW) -- Right now in Wisconsin, a child of any age can go into a bar with his or her parents and order a beer. That's one state provision many concerned parents, groups and lawmakers are trying to change. The state Senate Committee on Children and Families Workforce Development met Wednesday to hear arguments for and against Senate Bill 30. The bill would ban the sale and consumption of alcohol to those under age 18. AWARE (All Wisconsin Alcohol Risk Education) joined Drs. Paul M. Grossberg and Michael Miller in support of the bill, citing statistics that show that those who drink before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence in their lifetime. Supporters of the bill discussed Wisconsin's "drinking culture," which helps the state account for the highest rates of binge drinking, drunk driving, fetal alcohol syndrome and teenage drinking in the country. Opponents of SB 30 include Julie Coquard, who runs family-owned Wollersheim winery in Wisconsin Dells. Coquard says many families visit her winery, and she leaves it up to the parents to decide whether or not to let their children taste wine. "I think education should be the key [to curbing alcohol abuse], not prohibition," said Coquard. Coquard also says alcohol should not be "the forbidden fruit" that society often makes it. One mother who spoke with 27 News said while she would not let her own children drink alcohol under age 18, she doesn't think the government should be able to tell parents when to allow their children to drink. But some doctors say there are a number of harmful effects of alcohol, especially on adolescents. Dr. Michael Miller says research shows the brain is not fully developed until age 25, and an immature brain is more susceptible to addiction. Still, Miller supports SB 30 because "an 18-year-old brain is more developed than a 15-year-old brain." Other groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) think the bill does not go far enough and say Wisconsin should adopt a policy to reinforce 21 as the legal drinking age. But they say SB 30 is a good first step toward preventing underage drinking and "reversing the deadly drinking culture in Wisconsin." The Senate Committee is expected to take up SB 30 this fall. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/df4cbb60/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:14:42 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:40 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Women drinking more, DUIs up, experts say Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822091424.04153888@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Aug 22 10:33:41 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Aug 22 09:52:44 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal alcohol syndrome claims huge toll Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090822093325.01fb4890@ncf.ca> www.canada.com 18 Aug 2009 Times Colonist Fetal alcohol syndrome claims huge toll Re: ?Alcoholic beverages and good times,? Aug. 9. This was an excellent letter, except that it failed to mention women drinking alcoholic beverages when pregnant, which results in their offspring being born with fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS irreparably damages the brain. In today?s world, the social cost is enormous. It has been estimated one third of the homeless on the streets of Victoria are victims of fetal alcohol syndrome, a tragic price to pay for alcoholinspired ?good times? and a sad trait to bequeath an offspring. Lillian Money Sooke 9 Aug 2009 Times Colonist Alcoholic beverages and good times One of the biggest myths in our culture today is the common notion that one must drink alcohol in order to have a good time. Posters, TV commercial and huge billboards present the same message. It is simply not true. The sad fact is drinking booze will often ruin any good time you?re trying to have. Alcoholism, headaches, vomit, wasted money, addiction, death ? the list goes on! Drinking also impairs the judgment of normally smart people and can lead to drunkenness and debauchery. The wise choice might be to choose a nice ?glacier cold? can of ginger ale instead. We need to be full of the grace of life and the Sprit of God, rather than be full of beer or other such drink. David Carlos Saanich -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090822/10c9c863/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 24 11:07:44 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 24 10:10:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Report on safety deserves action: Edmonton Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090824100737.037c28e8@ncf.ca> "...Create a strategy to help families and youth suffering with fetal-alcohol syndrome, and develop a life-skills program for at-risk females to lower the rates of teen pregnancy and fetal-alcohol births...." http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Report+safety+deserves+action/1919064/story.html Edmonton Journal News Report on safety deserves action Ideas for reducing crime aren't new; back them up with resources By Scott McKeen, Edmonton Journal August 22, 2009 A private city hall report recommends the creation of an arm's-length agency to co-ordinate and bolster Edmonton's crime prevention efforts. The final report of the Edmonton Task Force on Community Safety will be unveiled to the public in mid-September. Council is scheduled to discuss it Monday behind closed doors. The 55-page report provides no cost projections and makes no predictions on crime reduction, but offers a pragmatic, compassionate, community-led plan to get at the root causes of crime. Its goals, in summary, are to help at-risk children before they become ensnared in drugs, drinking, gang membership and teenage pregnancy. "We need to help families do the best job they can to raise healthy, caring and resilient children who will not be drawn to criminal behaviours and who will be less likely to become victimized by criminal actions," says the report. The task force-- co-chaired by former police chief Fred Rayner and Lindsay Kelly, chair of the Capital Regional Mental Health Foundation-- makes a number of recommendations: -Integrate and increase family supports and programs in crime prevention hubs, in neighbourhood schools. -Provide school hubs the resources to offer everything from physical activity to homework help to kids during "critical" after-school hours. -Provide funding and specialized staff to identify and deter kids from entering criminal gangs. -Create a strategy to help families and youth suffering with fetal-alcohol syndrome, and develop a life-skills program for at-risk females to lower the rates of teen pregnancy and fetal-alcohol births. -Develop a model of social service delivery for at-risk youth that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. -Work with aboriginal and ethnic communities to engage and invite them into civic government and decision-making. -Organize neighbourhoods and find leaders within them to run grassroots crime-prevention programs. -Create new, community-led initiatives to reduce knife violence, increase the number of youth shelter beds and support the existing drug court. -Establish and fund a Community Safety Co-ordination Council to work with existing agencies and implement evidence-based, crime-prevention programs. A central organizing body is required, in part, because at-risk families told the task force they often didn't know what services existed or where to find them. Thus the report's emphasis on action inside neighbourhoods. First, with the school-based initiatives. But also with its hopes to foster crime-prevention programs and attitudes in the citizenry. The report argues that working upstream on the root causes of crime is not only pragmatic, from a safety perspective, but cost-effective. Estimates are that every dollar spent on crime prevention saves as much as $20 in costs later. Studies show that school-based programs that tackle aggressive behaviour are effective. So are programs that get kids involved early in positive activities in sports and recreation. Many of these ideas aren't new. But fledgling programs often died on the vine due to a lack of funding. Politics can be a cynical game. Elections have been won by political parties pandering to public fears, with promises to get tough on crime. But all the cops and all the jails do nothing to get at the root causes of crime. Nor are there enough cops to watch every neighbourhood, let alone every block of homes. The public, too, must become more engaged in crime prevention, as the report suggests. Too many people are afraid to get involved. Too many more shrug and argue their responsibility ends with paying taxes. Such attitudes must change. The task force report, ordered by Mayor Stephen Mandel, is sound and thorough. But its success or failure will be determined at the implementation stage as well as the support it receives by the public and our political leaders. smckeen@thejournal.canwest.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090824/54756c1a/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 24 11:08:00 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 24 10:10:27 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Double event Sept. 9: Prince George, B.C. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090824100752.037c25d0@ncf.ca> http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090821209097/local/news/double-event-sept.-9.html Prince George Citizen British Columbia Double event Sept. 9 Written by Bernice Trick Citizen staff Friday, 21 August 2009 The Northern Family Health Society in Prince George is celebrating its 20th anniversary in partnership with the annual awareness day for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. On Sept. 9, International FASD Awareness Day, NFHS organizers are challenging the community to stand side by side to "create the longest human life line" or "symbolic umbilical cord" by encircling the South Fort George Family Resource Centre, 1200 LaSalle Ave., at 12:15 p.m. Tricia Wright, with the NFHS, said,"Every year on Sept. 9, International FASD Awareness is observed around the world. From New Zealand to Alaska, people gather to raise awareness about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy and the plight of families and individuals who struggle with FASD." FASD is one of the top-three known causes of developmental delay in children in Canada. It is a lifelong condition with irreversible damage and no cure. The effects can include mental retardation, birth defects, abnormal facial features and problems relating to growth, the central nervous system, memory, vision, hearing and behaviour. Wright said Sept. 9, the ninth day of the ninth month, was selected for the world to remember how precious the nine months of pregnancy are. The celebration begins at the Family Resource Centre at 12:15 p.m. with the umbilical cord challenge followed by a barbecue, entertainment, children's activities and information booths from 1 to 3 p.m. Meanwhile at NFHS, 2666 Queensway, there is an open house and tours at 2 p.m. complimented by guest speakers and cake at 3:30 p.m. to be followed by the NFHS annual general meeting at 5:30 p.m. --btrick@pgcitizen.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090824/02acf4b8/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 24 15:53:45 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 24 14:52:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Society Ombudsman... solutions to problems faced by First Nations children: New Brunswick Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090824143836.0343d2c0@ncf.ca> "...a nine-member committee that is looking to remedy the many problems that grip First Nations, from drug abuse to fetal alcohol syndrome, to poverty and crime..." http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/769653 Telegraph-Journal Saint John, New Brunswick Road to a remedy Published Monday August 24th, 2009 Society Ombudsman Richard searching for solutions to problems faced by First Nations children QUENTIN CASEY TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL [Photo] Bernard Richard Bernard Richard is on a road trip across New Brunswick that he hopes will eventually help improve the plight of the province's First Nations children. Richard, the province's child and youth advocate, has been crisscrossing the province to speak with aboriginal chiefs and to study the state of child welfare on the province's 15 First Nations. Richard, who also serves as provincial ombudsman, is part of a nine-member committee that is looking to remedy the many problems that grip First Nations, from drug abuse to fetal alcohol syndrome, to poverty and crime. Provincial court judge Graydon Nicholas and former federal Indian Affairs minister Andy Scott are co-chairing the committee, which also includes native elders and social work specialists. According to Richard, the goal is to develop solutions that will give First Nations children the same chance as other children in the province "to develop and to grow and to be full contributors to our society." Most recently, Richard travelled to the communities of Red Bank and Burnt Church. He has also met with nearly all of New Brunswick's aboriginal chiefs, as well as officials from the federal and provincial governments. By the end of this month, Richard hopes to release a discussion paper to further spark debate on what needs fixing. September will also be busy as public consultations are held at First Nations across the province. And on Sept. 29 and 30 a symposium on aboriginal child welfare will be held in Fredericton. Richard said the event will gather all of New Brunswick's chiefs, along with experts from across the country. The idea is to determine what works well in other provinces and then fashion a local solution. "We really want to develop a made-in-New Brunswick model that can work here and improve the level of child welfare services," he said in an interview. "So far so good, but there's no question it's a complex piece of business. "It's not easy. It's very complicated." Richard said the process is further complicated by the notable differences between New Brunswick's 15 First Nations. For example, they range in size from Fort Folly near Dorchester (population 30) to Elsipogtog near Rexton (population 2,800). "It makes for some significant differences in approaches and issues and problems," Richard said. For example, he said one First Nation reported that 10 per cent of its population was either on - or waiting to get on - methadone treatment for drug addiction. "And that's not counting the ones who don't care to be on methadone," he said. "So, yeah, big issues." Richard, who served as the minister responsible for aboriginal affairs in Frank McKenna's Liberal government, was chosen to supervise the review in May. The announcement came as part of the government's response to recommendations that stemmed from the suicide of a First Nations child, who was receiving services from a child and family services agency. Child welfare services on First Nations are delivered by band-run agencies. They are funded by the federal government, but are required to meet standards set by the provincial government. There are 11 First Nations child and family service agencies in New Brunswick, serving 15 communities. Richard's final report is expected in January. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090824/41b3292d/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 12:17:43 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 11:22:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD Across the Lifespan: Oct. 7-9 Edmonton, AB Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825082026.0403ddb8@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 12:20:38 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 11:22:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD Conference Reminder-- Saskatoon Sept. 24-25 Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825110656.04a72708@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 12:21:19 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 11:28:10 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Nowhere to turn: New Brunswick Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825112104.03cef4b0@ncf.ca> "...Along with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he is suspected of having an alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder...." "...by the time kids' mental health issues are identified, many have already turned to drugs or become tangled up in the criminal justice system...." NOWHERE TO TURN Rachel Mendleson. Maclean's. Toronto: Aug 17, 2009. Vol. 122, Iss. 31; pg. 22, 2 pgs [Headnote] Some provinces are sending troubled kids as far away as Utah for rehabilitation After months of battling social services to keep her grandson close to their Nova Scotia community, Gloria learned from a voice mail message that she had lost. The recording, left on July 6, informed her that in a few days, the 14-year-old, who has severe emotional and behavioural difficulties, would be sent to a residential treatment facility near Trenton, Ont., more than 1,500 km away from home. Of immediate concern, however, was that she'd have to wait until the next morning to find out how long he'd be gone, or when she'd have to say goodbye. Gloria has raised Nathan, who was abandoned by born parents, since he was four. Last October, his impulsive behaviour, drug use and habitual running away prompted her to temporarily give up custody, thinking the province "would put him some place where he would get help," she says. Along with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he is suspected of having an alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. But Nathan continued to run and get himself deeper into trouble. Within months, he was shuffled through six placements with foster families and in group homes, and racked up a slew of criminal charges. Nova Scotia determined that neither it - nor she could meet his needs, and decided he should go to Cinnamon Hills, a private treatment facility in Utah, where it had sent a number of youth with similar issues. When all else fails, provincial governments are often willing to dispense huge amounts of money to ship the most critical cases to residential treatment facilities far from home. Outraged, Gloria, whose name and that of her grandson have been changed, poured thousands of dollars into legal services to fight the decision, but the judge upheld the ruling. By then, her concern had become about more than the distance: it emerged that a former Cinnamon Hills worker, Joy Lynette Andrews, was facing charges relating to an alleged sexual relationship with a 16-yearold resident. (The 34-year-old pleaded not guilty last month.) Though Nathan didn't end up going to Utah (he was deemed inadmissible to the U.S.), the alternative of Trenton has left Gloria only marginally less desperate. "He doesn't need to be going where he's going," she says. "That child needs to be loved." (Days after his arrival in Trenton, Nathan ran away. He was later returned by police.) Of the roughly 1,700 kids in the care of Nova Scotia's Community Services Department, more than 98 per cent are placed in foster families and group homes within the province. But for those who require extensive treatment for complex emotional and behavioural difficulties, says Rickcola Slawter, youth duty council for the province's legal aid, "there's really nothing here." Though a long-term residential treatment centre is in the planning stages, funding has yet to be secured. Cur rently, the only option is Wood Street, a locked- door facility in Truro for short-term stabilization. So for now, when a longer-term solution is required, Community Services casts the net further afield. Last year, 25 youth were placed in treatment facilities elsewhere in Canada and the U.S. Since 2004, 20 kids have gone to Cinnamon Hills. According to Vicki Wood, director of child welfare for the department, the tuition- $114,000 annually- is comparable to that of Nova Scotiaprograms, but "the range of specialists [at Cinnamon Hills] would far outstrip anything that we could offer here." As for the allegation of mistreatment, she says, "We have absolutely no knowledge of substantiated abuse," adding that in child welfare cases, the burden of proof "is much lower than for a criminal test." And though Wood acknowledges that the 5,000 km between Halifax and St. George, Utah, presents a challenge for families, she insists subsidized visits and regular phone calls can bridge the gap: "It's the constant and regular contact that's important, not the distance over it." This explanation is not good enough for Bernard Richard, the ombudsman in New Brunswick, which also occassionally sends troubled kids out of the province. Struck by how many complaints he was receiving about inadequate services for kids with complex mental health needs, Richard, who is also the province's child and youth advocate, dug up the files of seven such cases. His resulting 2008 report, "Connecting the dots," chronicles the failure of a system that bounced these kids between foster families, group homes, hospitals and jail without providing appropriate treatment. In one instance, a 13-year-old boy was kept in the province's youth detention centre for several weeks in 2005, not due to committing a crime, but rather because "there was nowhere else to send him." As a young adult, he was later among three of the seven who were sent to Spurwink, a highly specialized treatment residence in Portland, Maine, where the annual cost of comprehensive services ranges from $125,000 to $500,000 per person. Says Richard, "I fail to be convinced that we can't do this locally." The 48 recommendations he came up with push hard for community-based treatment options. The idea, he says, is to give these kids the stability and help they so desperately need - long before they require a half-million-dollar solution. Gauging the effect on kids of being moved far from home is difficult, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is often significant. John Mould, who is the child and youth advocate in Alberta, says youth in care sent from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, where treatment options are scarce, can "feel like they've been forgotten. They don't know how and when they'll get home." While Alberta almost never resorts to out-of-province placements for its own kids, the distance between rural communities and treatment programs can lead to similar feelings of isolation. According to Moncton psychologist Charles Emmrys, this is "a ridiculously expensive system that does not work." He calls the widespread practice of removing the most damaged kids from their communities "a quiet crisis," and is part of a small group of advocates pushing for a different solution. That facilities, rather than families, remain the default placement for those who are most at risk is, he says, "one of the greatest injustices in society right now." In an impassioned plea to a New Brunswick government-commissioned mental health task force earlier this year, Emmrys argued instead that placing professionals in communities, investing in biological families, and significantly increasing the support - and compensation -foster parents receive would be "revenue neutral at worst." But more importantly, he says, it's what's been proven successful. Unlike residential facilities, which effectively sentence kids to a life in institutions, the family model, though considerably more "messy," gives them the continuity and connectedness they need, he says. "The 'there is no place' argument is simply an attestation to the fact that planners did not do their work." Still, the reality of just how difficult it is to access children's mental health resources on their own means that some families would jump at the chance to have the province seek out treatment for their son - even it required sending him to Utah. In the course of her legal aid work, Slawter routinely hears from parents who've pressed charges against their own child, believing that "if they bring him before the court, he can be ordered to get treatment." Ian Manion, executive director of Ontario's Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, says that because resources are in such short supply "right along the continuum," early intervention is rare. And despite the best intentions of child welfare, by the time kids' mental health issues are identified, many have already turned to drugs or become tangled up in the criminal justice system. The effect: "You're constantly dealing with the deepest end of the pool, which is the most specialized, most expensive way of doing business," he says. For most of Nathan's life, his grandmother has been fighting for him. At two, Gloria spotted him on the side of the road, in the arms of a stranger. "I stopped that car and jumped out," she says. Apparently, his father had handed him over and walked off - as it turned out, for good. And when his mother, who had taken him to live in Vancouver, lost custody, Gloria ran up her phone bill "so high I couldn't afford it," she says, "but I found my grandson." However, when she finally got word from social services that he would likely be in Ontario for a year, it was her emotions, not mettle, that came to the fore. "When he comes back, we're all strangers," she says. "It's really sad for this child." [Sidebar] NOVA SCOTIA has little capacity to treat seriously disturbed children in the long term WITH A LONG HISTORY OF ACTING OUT, THE 14-YEAR-OLD WAS ORDERED INTO A TREATMENT PROGRAM 5,000 KM AWAY FROM HOME Indexing (document details) Subjects: Children & youth, Mental health care, Early intervention, Drug use, Community, Child welfare, Burden of proof -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090825/5798ad39/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 12:27:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 11:34:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] The Growing Problem of Cognitive Disorders in Corrections Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825112740.03cf1d40@ncf.ca> Dr. Gage is currently Chief of Psychiatry for the Washington Department of Corrections http://fasiceberg.org/newsletters/Vol19Num2_June2009.htm#CogDis Iceberg Newsletter quarterly educational newsletter published by FASIS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Information Service), Washington State June 2009 The Growing Problem of Cognitive Disorders in Corrections By Bruce Gage The growing number of mentally ill in our correctional systems has been well-publicized and is generally well-accepted at this point. It is perhaps lesser known that there are large numbers of persons with various neurological or neurodevelopmental conditions in the correctional system as well. Often unrecognized are those with common conditions such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). These groups share a similar profile in terms of the kinds of problems they have. Moreover, they are preventable problems that are having substantial adverse impacts on both the sufferers and our community. Those with other types of developmental disabilities, often genetic in origin (and thus less preventable), are also being noted with increased frequency in correctional settings, though these will not be the focus of this article. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), the most severe form of FASD, is estimated to occur at a prevalence of 0.5 to 2.0 cases for every thousand births. However, some researchers have found much higher rates using so-called active prevalence. Active prevalence uses active cases in treatment as the foundational measure. Clarren, et al1 found a rate of over 3 per thousand births in one county in the state of Washington, and those having FASD may be five times more prevalent.2 Altogether, FASD may be 10 times as prevalent as Down Syndrome; meaning about 30,000 babies born each year suffer from a FASD. TBI is also increasingly common. Of note, the ages of highest risk for TBI are up to 4 years old and between ages 15 and -19. Around 1.4 million Americans suffer a documented TBI annually; 50,000 die, 235,000 are hospitalized, and 1.1 million are released from the emergency room.3 Clearly, these are vast numbers. In addition to craniofacial abnormalities (which recede to some extent after adolescence), maternal alcohol use can lead to malformation of the brain, learning disabilities, problems with attention, low IQ and various psychiatric disorders, among other issues. But most germane for the correctional population are the related behavioral problems. For instance, around 60% of those with FASD have trouble with the law and 40% spend at least some time in confinement (correctional, mental health or drug/alcohol treatment). About 50% engage in repeated sexually inappropriate behavior.4 Similarly, traumatic brain injury (including closed head injury not necessarily associated with loss of consciousness) is associated with behavioral problems in addition to a wide array of other difficulties. These disorders typically manifest as impaired executive function giving rise to poor planning, difficulty anticipating outcomes, and, perhaps most importantly, impairment in impulse control and poor social skills. This leads to behaviors that are either themselves criminal or to behaviors such as drug and alcohol use that predispose to criminal acts and further impair executive functioning. Too often, these behavioral problems stemming from TBI or FASD are attributed to antisocial or other personality disorders or simply to moral turpitude. Many of these people get into trouble with the law or in school from a young age. They often come from poor or disadvantaged settings where treatment or other interventions may be minimal, and even the presence of cognitive impairment is frequently unappreciated. Behavioral problems and the fact that academics are often difficult for the cognitively impaired can lead to other psychological problems related to poor self-esteem. People with FASD or TBI, and cognitive disorders in general, may then turn to social roles where they can find acceptance but which are often centered on drug use and/or criminal attitudes. While those with severe conditions may not be prosecuted because they are too impaired to stand trial, many others do not exhibit obvious cognitive impairment on routine clinical examination, especially when the emphasis is on the detection of serious mental illness rather than cognitive impairments. If those with FASD or TBI are found competent to stand trial, the question of their mental state at the time of the offense may arise. Rarely will these types of disorders lead to an insanity defense as it generally requires a substantial break with reality (psychosis) not typical of these disorders. The degree of mens rea, that is the guilty mind or mental state that is an element of most all crimes, might be more relevant but is rarely given proper consideration. A discussion of the legal issues is beyond the scope of this paper, but it can be summarized by noting that problems with executive functioning are rarely considered by the law as long as the person demonstrates some ability to make choices or demonstrate restraint in some circumstances. Mere difficulties with impulse control, even if repetitive, are generally not considered legally relevant. Because many people who suffer from these sorts of cognitive impairments often have early and frequent behavioral problems, they represent a relatively high risk of re-offense. Rather than their disorders being mitigating, they may be treated as aggravating whether by virtue of the histories alone or, if the impairment does happen to be detected, because of the known associations with behavioral problems. In general, this group of people does not tend to engender sympathy. This is exacerbated by the general, though erroneous, belief that there is nothing can be done with such neurological conditions, a belief shared by many clinicians. The tendency to therapeutic nihilism becomes a further reason to promote incarceration rather than treatment. And with worsening budgetary pressures on the public mental health system it is likely that the numbers of people with these problems will continue to grow in correctional settings in parallel with those suffering from mental illness. In this regard, it is important to note that people with FASD or TBItend to show a limited response to punishment. Given the rapid turnover and limited resources in jails, it is highly unlikely that repeated jailing for minor offenses will yield much change. While the prisons have somewhat more to offer, they are not yet well prepared for working with this population, having their hands already full with a progressively more medically and mentally ill population. Thus, it is unlikely that the current direction of our overall system is heading in a direction that is likely to reduce the frequency of the behavioral problems associated with these disorders. Making matters worse, these are people with limited advocacy. Coupled with the fact that their behavior is often viewed as blameworthy, it is hard to see where the change is going occur. But many correctional administrators and clinicians are aware of this growing problem and some are undertaking an effort to better detect those with cognitive limitations. This will be a challenge for jails that may not have the time or resources to do the kinds of testing necessary to detect those that are not already identified as cognitively impaired. Unlike people with serious mental illness or more severe cognitive limitations, who are more readily detected with a clinical interview, those with milder or less obvious cognitive limitations may appear to require no specialized services in the correctional setting. Yet we may believe that they merit more attention for a variety of reasons including the potential for being victimized, their frequent infractions and high recidivism owing to the above-mentioned executive function limitations. They also pose a challenge for correctional rehabilitation and offender programming. Given the frequently associated learning disabilities, more diverse methods are needed than are typically available in correctional settings. Medications hold promise for some and dramatic results, while not the norm, do occur. TBI is somewhat more frequently diagnosed than FASD, but there are no good studies of the prevalence of these conditions in correctional settings. One group did find that 87% in a jail population had a history of head injury and 29% had moderate to severe head injury5. A study by Calantonio, et al6 showed that 23% of consecutive evaluations of adults in a forensic psychiatric clinic had diagnosable TBI. They found, consistent with the above, that this population was more likely to be diagnosed as being personality-disordered, especially antisocial. Similarly, Fast, et al7 found that 23.3% of consecutive cases sent for juvenile forensic mental health assessment clinic had FASD, so clearly the number is substantial. Whatever the actual number of those with TBI or FASD entering the criminal justice system, it is probably comparable in scope to serious mental illness and yet largely silent. What is encouraging is that the combination of early detection of FASD and being raised in a stable environment can reduce the odds of a bad outcome by 2-4 times4. Given that up to 80% of those with FASD do not grow up with their biological mothers4, the challenge and the charge is clear. Similarly, aggressive rehabilitation and ongoing services, especially cognitive and behavioral strategies and medication, reduce the negative outcomes in TBI. But most with mild to moderate TBI receive no specialized services despite the well-documented potential for long-term problems. More must be done early in life to secure a better future for those suffering these disorders and for society. As a clinician going into prisons, it is clear that the problem is substantial. Virtually every day in the prison clinic there is a man or woman presenting for mental health care that has the stigmata of FASD or clear evidence of TBI, yet few carry the diagnosis. Raising awareness in the community and in corrections is critical if we are to better address their needs?hopefully prior to incarceration. Dr. Gage is currently Chief of Psychiatry for the Washington Department of Corrections. Prior to this post he spent many years as a forensic psychiatrist including serving as the program director for the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Washington. Dr. Gage's interest in neuropsychiatry, including traumatic brain injury and FASD, extends back to his days teaching neuroanatomy and working as a neuropsychiatrist at a VA hospital in the UCLA system. REFERENCES Clarren, S.K.; Randels, S.P.; Sanderson, M.; and Fineman, R.M. Screening for fetal alcohol syndrome in primary schools: A feasibility study. Teratology 63(1):3-10, 2001. May, PA & Gossage, JP. Estimating the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome: a summary. NIAAA website. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-3/159-167.htm. Accessed 4/24/09. Brainline.org. Accessed 4/24/09. Streissguth AP, Bookstein FL, Barr HM, Sampson PD, O'Malley K, Young JK, Journal Of Developmental And Behavioral Pediatrics: JDBP [J Dev Behav Pediatr], ISSN: 0196-206X, 2004 Aug; Vol. 25 (4), pp. 228-38 Slaughter B, Fann JR, Ehde D. Traumatic brain injury in a county jail population: prevalence, neuropsychological functioning and psychiatric disorders. Brain Inj. 2003;17:731?741. Colantonio A, Stamenova V, Abramowitz C, Clarke D, Christensen B, Brain Injury: [BI] [Brain Inj], ISSN: 0269-9052, 2007 Dec; Vol. 21 (13-14), pp. 1353-60 Fast DK, Conry J, Loock CA, Journal Of Developmental And Behavioral Pediatrics: JDBP [J Dev Behav Pediatr], ISSN: 0196-206X, 1999 Oct; Vol. 20 (5), pp. 370-2 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090825/579841ef/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 13:40:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 12:46:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Top 10 Most Obnoxious Things To Say To A Pregnant Woman Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825124046.03cf3100@ncf.ca> "...7. "You know about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, right? Just checking!"..." http://www.ethiopianreview.com/articles/26083 Ethiopian Review Washington, D.C. Top 10 Most Obnoxious Things To Say To A Pregnant Woman Posted by Desta Bishu | August 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 am | It's bad enough that women's bodies are already community property?objects to be sized up, assessed, commented on and ogled. When you're pregnant, the concept of personal space?physical or theoretical?flies out the window right along with your ability to control your gag reflex. Having complete strangers rub your belly is disturbing enough, but brace yourself for the onslaught of running commentary and nosy questions about your body, eating habits, and worst-case birthing scenarios people seem compelled to send your way. 10. "Is that a venti Starbucks coffee you're drinking?" Only excessive amounts of caffeine have been linked to miscarriage, but that doesn't stop the average Joe from expressing dismay at your caffeine intake apparently. Best bet? Take a magic marker and write DECAF across the cup, or better yet, "accidentally" spill it on your interrogator. Pregnant women are so gosh-darn clumsy! 9. "What size bra are you wearing now?" Yes, your boobs have grown monumentally?and practically overnight?to prepare for milk production. There's nothing you can do to prevent it, and there's nothing roving eyes?male and female?seem to be able to do to avoid staring at your newfound friends. Turn the awkward around?when they ask how big, you can ask them, "How big do you think they are? Come on, guess! Wait?let's ask your boyfriend." 8. "Oh don't worry?you're going to carry all your weight up front and in your thighs." Every gal's dream is to find out that the folks in her life have already gone to the trouble to determine your body type and propensity for weight gain. Consider it a blessing when your friends and coworkers let you know they've already identified your problem areas. "Thanks for the recon work, Jenny Craig!" you can tell them. 7. "You know about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, right? Just checking!" Yeah, so everyone you work with knows you drink?a lot. But they just can't be sure you're smart enough to drop your bad habits just because you're expecting, so they're happy to point out the dire consequences if you keep boozing it up. "Do I know about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? Sure do?did you know the average IQ is only 100?" 6. "Is that your third breakfast for the day?" Everyone knows you're eating for two, and yet, they can't help but shake their heads in amused dismay at the sight of you gobbling away all those Triscuits and cheese cubes. It's just so funny that you're just ballooning up right in front of their very eyes. And even though you've never so much as held a conversation, they suddenly feel they have the right to inquire about your nutritional habits. Just tell them you're having triplets. 5. "Sorry we didn't invite you to the movie?you just haven't been out lately." You're already nauseous and exhausted most of the time in early pregnancy, but people still manage to be offended that you haven't been hanging out at the rock shows drinking PBRs and smoking a pack of cigs a night. They finally get the hint and stop pestering you to meet for drinks, but the downside is they won't invite you to any events at all?ever again. Time to make new friends. 4. "Wow?you're pregnant? I'm stunned." So maybe you made the mistake of saying you're not a breeder about a thousand times in your life. Maybe you publicly expressed on more than one occasion that babies are little terrorist parasites and you don't need that noise boning up your ambitions. So maybe now you're pregnant, and maybe now people want to mention that they just can't imagine your smoking, drinking, wise-cracking self conjuring up a maternal instinct. As always, a crass remark will throw most people off their scent. "Yep, little old me is pregnant. And now that I am pregnant, I've decided to embrace the whole shebang, including eating the placenta." 3. "Aren't you right about the age where all the high-risk starts?" More women than ever are delaying childbearing, and while the risk certainly increases, most women go on to deliver healthy babies. Being over 30 shouldn't give folks a license to talk to you like you're a dried-out old cooch. Response: "Aren't you an asshole? 2. "Do you hope it's a boy?" Wow, that this sentiment is even uttered is like ringing a big old sweeping bell of an indictment for the patriarchal culture we still inhabit. Response: "What is this, China?" 1. "Do you think you'll go back to work?" Of course you will. This isn't the '50s. Response: "Only if you don't." By Tracy Moore | heartlessdoll -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090825/54fc0c73/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 13:44:32 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 12:46:15 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Dan Agin: Actualilties Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825124404.03cf36a8@ncf.ca> "...By the early 1990s, it was already obvious to researchers that ethyl alcohol in the prenatal environment can cause prenatal damage. ..." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-agin/actualities-weed-killers_b_266509.html The Huffington Post U.S. Dan Agin Author/Neuroscientist Posted: August 23, 2009 02:11 PM Actualities: Weed Killers in Your Water We live in a world of dangers seen and unseen, dangers to ourselves, our family, our children, and our children not yet born. On one side of the coin is the fact that if you spend all your time worrying about dangers, sooner or later you will be immobilized. On the other side of the coin is the fact that some dangers can be eliminated, and if we don't do something about those dangers, when the misery happens who will we be able to blame but ourselves? On the front page of today's New York Times (Sunday, August 23, 2009) there begins a series called "Toxic Waters" -- about contamination of local water supplies and effects on people. This first article is about the pesticide atrazine. It's a long article, with details about concentrations, about arguments, about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and so on. Everyone should read it. And if you do read it, and it doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, maybe you ought to sit and think about it awhile. For the past several years, my life had been entangled with the problem of the effects of toxic environmental chemicals on the development of the fetal brain -- and the effects on later behavior and intelligence. My entanglement resulted in a book that will be out in a few weeks: More Than Genes: What Science Can Tell Us About Toxic Chemicals, Development, and the Risk to Our Children (Oxford University Press. October, 2009.) My guess is that more than one head will pop up to call me a fear-monger. My response is the fear is necessary. It's a sticky subject, especially for old people like myself. Let me tell you a secret about old people. When old people walk through the halls of a children's hospital, they walk while they cry inside. I've asked many old people about this, and so far the answer is always the same -- they cry inside. They stop and smile at the kids, wave to them, make a funny face -- but inside the old people are crying. That's the way it is. The question for all of us is how much of what we see in the halls of a children's hospital is preventable. The basic question for toxicologists and pediatricians (and for the EPA) is whether there is indeed such a thing as a "safe" concentration of a toxic substance for an embryo or fetus. My own view, and the view of many scientists, is that for chemicals already known to be toxic the most scientifically sensible answer is no, there is no "safe" concentration for the developing embryo or fetus. It's an enormous problem, and the public has the right and the need to at least know about the problem. The fact that toxic chemicals in the environment can have tragic effects on human fetal development is well known to scientists, and for some time now the concerns of scientists have been leaking into the media. Here are some examples: By the early 1990s, it was already obvious to researchers that ethyl alcohol in the prenatal environment can cause prenatal damage. Measurable concentrations of maternal blood alcohol produce the recognizable clinical entity of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). But on biological grounds, even minute immeasurable quantities of ethyl alcohol are expected to cause subtle effects on the developing nervous system, especially during the earlier stages of embryonic formation. These effects might involve damage other than FASD or its most severe form, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) -- subtle damage not yet clinically recognized. There is, in other words, no apparent safety threshold for ethyl alcohol consumption, and no apparent safe period after conception. In 2002, a news article in the journal Science highlighted low birth weight as a predictor of adult chronic disease, the article pointing out that epidemiological studies of such correlations have been accumulating since the 1980s. Birth-weight is merely a crude measure of the rate of fetal development. Are there subtle behavioral effects of lower than average birth weight that have not yet been tested in children and adults? We already have some evidence that birth-weight is correlated with childhood and adult intelligence quotient (IQ) and various behavior patterns. In 2004, a review of the impact of environmental toxic chemicals on childhood health pointed out that in Europe the prenatal environment is at risk of contamination by 15,000 synthetic chemicals, nearly all developed over the past 50 years, and that worldwide between 50,000 and 100,000 chemicals are being produced commercially. The review emphasized that end-organ vulnerability may be greatest in the fetus, and that for some chemicals the toxic effects seen in childhood are the result of continuous exposure beginning with conception. In 2005, a review pointed out that exposure to infection or nutritional deprivation during early fetal development may elevate the risk of later onset of schizophrenia. Lead exposure has also been established as a risk factor for schizophrenia, the lead correlations suggesting environmental chemicals as a new class of schizophrenia risk factors that are still inadequately investigated. In February 2008, 200 researchers who had met the year before in Norway announced that embryos and fetuses are more vulnerable than previously thought to chemical pollutants that can cause disease or disability, and that embryos and fetuses are vulnerable even to extremely small doses that do not harm adults. We cannot hide the reality of the impact of the environment on fetal development. The above examples are only a hint of what is available in the scientific and medical literature about the effects of environmental toxic chemicals on fetal development and later childhood and adult disease. There are problems and there are problems, and some problems are certainly not as important as other problems. But in the halls of any children's hospital anywhere, the only question that seems important is clear: How much of this is preventable? [All comments are welcome, but if you're commenting as a professional, please give your real name and affiliation.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090825/4330ea4b/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Aug 25 14:27:13 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Aug 25 13:34:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] RE: Nowhere to turn: NOVA SCOTIA Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090825132612.04a72708@ncf.ca> Sorry, this is about NOVA SCOTIA >Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:21:19 -0400 >To: fasd_canadian_link@lists.von.ca >From: Elspeth Ross >Subject: Nowhere to turn: New Brunswick > >"...Along with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he is >suspected of having an alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder...." >"...by the time kids' mental health issues are identified, many have >already turned to drugs or become tangled up in the criminal justice >system...." > >NOWHERE TO TURN >Rachel Mendleson. Maclean's. Toronto: Aug 17, 2009. Vol. 122, Iss. >31; pg. 22, 2 pgs > >[Headnote] >Some provinces are sending troubled kids as far away as Utah for >rehabilitation > >After months of battling social services to keep her grandson close >to their Nova Scotia community, Gloria learned from a voice mail >message that she had lost. The recording, left on July 6, informed >her that in a few days, the 14-year-old, who has severe emotional >and behavioural difficulties, would be sent to a residential >treatment facility near Trenton, Ont., more than 1,500 km away from >home. Of immediate concern, however, was that she'd have to wait >until the next morning to find out how long he'd be gone, or when >she'd have to say goodbye. > >Gloria has raised Nathan, who was abandoned by born parents, since >he was four. Last October, his impulsive behaviour, drug use and >habitual running away prompted her to temporarily give up custody, >thinking the province "would put him some place where he would get >help," she says. Along with attention deficit hyperactivity >disorder, he is suspected of having an alcohol-related >neurodevelopmental disorder. But Nathan continued to run and get >himself deeper into trouble. Within months, he was shuffled through >six placements with foster families and in group homes, and racked >up a slew of criminal charges. Nova Scotia determined that neither >it - nor she could meet his needs, and decided he should go to >Cinnamon Hills, a private treatment facility in Utah, where it had >sent a number of youth with similar issues. When all else fails, >provincial governments are often willing to dispense huge amounts of >money to ship the most critical cases to residential treatment >facilities far from home. > >Outraged, Gloria, whose name and that of her grandson have been >changed, poured thousands of dollars into legal services to fight >the decision, but the judge upheld the ruling. By then, her concern >had become about more than the distance: it emerged that a former >Cinnamon Hills worker, Joy Lynette Andrews, was facing charges >relating to an alleged sexual relationship with a 16-yearold >resident. (The 34-year-old pleaded not guilty last month.) Though >Nathan didn't end up going to Utah (he was deemed inadmissible to >the U.S.), the alternative of Trenton has left Gloria only >marginally less desperate. "He doesn't need to be going where he's >going," she says. "That child needs to be loved." (Days after his >arrival in Trenton, Nathan ran away. He was later returned by police.) > >Of the roughly 1,700 kids in the care of Nova Scotia's Community >Services Department, more than 98 per cent are placed in foster >families and group homes within the province. But for those who >require extensive treatment for complex emotional and behavioural >difficulties, says Rickcola Slawter, youth duty council for the >province's legal aid, "there's really nothing here." Though a >long-term residential treatment centre is in the planning stages, >funding has yet to be secured. Cur rently, the only option is Wood >Street, a locked- door facility in Truro for short-term >stabilization. So for now, when a longer-term solution is required, >Community Services casts the net further afield. Last year, 25 youth >were placed in treatment facilities elsewhere in Canada and the U.S. >Since 2004, 20 kids have gone to Cinnamon Hills. According to Vicki >Wood, director of child welfare for the department, the tuition- >$114,000 annually- is comparable to that of Nova Scotiaprograms, but >"the range of specialists [at Cinnamon Hills] would far outstrip >anything that we could offer here." As for the allegation of >mistreatment, she says, "We have absolutely no knowledge of >substantiated abuse," adding that in child welfare cases, the burden >of proof "is much lower than for a criminal test." And though Wood >acknowledges that the 5,000 km between Halifax and St. George, Utah, >presents a challenge for families, she insists subsidized visits and >regular phone calls can bridge the gap: "It's the constant and >regular contact that's important, not the distance over it." > >This explanation is not good enough for Bernard Richard, the >ombudsman in New Brunswick, which also occassionally sends troubled >kids out of the province. Struck by how many complaints he was >receiving about inadequate services for kids with complex mental >health needs, Richard, who is also the province's child and youth >advocate, dug up the files of seven such cases. His resulting 2008 >report, "Connecting the dots," chronicles the failure of a system >that bounced these kids between foster families, group homes, >hospitals and jail without providing appropriate treatment. In one >instance, a 13-year-old boy was kept in the province's youth >detention centre for several weeks in 2005, not due to committing a >crime, but rather because "there was nowhere else to send him." As a >young adult, he was later among three of the seven who were sent to >Spurwink, a highly specialized treatment residence in Portland, >Maine, where the annual cost of comprehensive services ranges from >$125,000 to $500,000 per person. Says Richard, "I fail to be >convinced that we can't do this locally." The 48 recommendations he >came up with push hard for community-based treatment options. The >idea, he says, is to give these kids the stability and help they so >desperately need - long before they require a half-million-dollar solution. > >Gauging the effect on kids of being moved far from home is >difficult, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is often significant. >John Mould, who is the child and youth advocate in Alberta, says >youth in care sent from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, where >treatment options are scarce, can "feel like they've been forgotten. >They don't know how and when they'll get home." While Alberta almost >never resorts to out-of-province placements for its own kids, the >distance between rural communities and treatment programs can lead >to similar feelings of isolation. > >According to Moncton psychologist Charles Emmrys, this is "a >ridiculously expensive system that does not work." He calls the >widespread practice of removing the most damaged kids from their >communities "a quiet crisis," and is part of a small group of >advocates pushing for a different solution. That facilities, rather >than families, remain the default placement for those who are most >at risk is, he says, "one of the greatest injustices in society >right now." In an impassioned plea to a New Brunswick >government-commissioned mental health task force earlier this year, >Emmrys argued instead that placing professionals in communities, >investing in biological families, and significantly increasing the >support - and compensation -foster parents receive would be "revenue >neutral at worst." But more importantly, he says, it's what's been >proven successful. Unlike residential facilities, which effectively >sentence kids to a life in institutions, the family model, though >considerably more "messy," gives them the continuity and >connectedness they need, he says. "The 'there is no place' argument >is simply an attestation to the fact that planners did not do their work." > >Still, the reality of just how difficult it is to access children's >mental health resources on their own means that some families would >jump at the chance to have the province seek out treatment for their >son - even it required sending him to Utah. In the course of her >legal aid work, Slawter routinely hears from parents who've pressed >charges against their own child, believing that "if they bring him >before the court, he can be ordered to get treatment." Ian Manion, >executive director of Ontario's Provincial Centre of Excellence for >Child and Youth Mental Health, says that because resources are in >such short supply "right along the continuum," early intervention is >rare. And despite the best intentions of child welfare, by the time >kids' mental health issues are identified, many have already turned >to drugs or become tangled up in the criminal justice system. The >effect: "You're constantly dealing with the deepest end of the pool, >which is the most specialized, most expensive way of doing business," he says. > >For most of Nathan's life, his grandmother has been fighting for >him. At two, Gloria spotted him on the side of the road, in the arms >of a stranger. "I stopped that car and jumped out," she says. >Apparently, his father had handed him over and walked off - as it >turned out, for good. And when his mother, who had taken him to live >in Vancouver, lost custody, Gloria ran up her phone bill "so high I >couldn't afford it," she says, "but I found my grandson." > >However, when she finally got word from social services that he >would likely be in Ontario for a year, it was her emotions, not >mettle, that came to the fore. "When he comes back, we're all >strangers," she says. "It's really sad for this child." > >[Sidebar] >NOVA SCOTIA has little capacity to treat seriously disturbed >children in the long term >WITH A LONG HISTORY OF ACTING OUT, THE 14-YEAR-OLD WAS ORDERED INTO >A TREATMENT PROGRAM 5,000 KM AWAY FROM HOME > > >Indexing (document details) > >Subjects: Children & youth, Mental health care, Early >intervention, Drug use, Community, Child welfare, Burden of proof -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090825/7195c86c/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 26 19:29:02 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 26 18:34:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Push for Ontario provincial FASD strategy in Infertility & Adoption report today Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090826182845.036fd958@ncf.ca> The Ontario report "Raising Expectations: Recommendations of the Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption" released today August 26, 2009 by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services includes a recommendation about advocating for a provincial Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder strategy. See recommendation 1.13 in the Executive Summary and Full report and page 57 in the full report: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/infertility/index.aspx Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services Creating families Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption A Message from the Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption .... Download: * Executive Summary (PDF) * Full Report (PDF) * News release Adoption Recommendations 1. Create a Provincial Adoption Agency Obligations of the Provincial Adoption Agency The provincial adoption agency should: 1.13 Advocate for the creation of provincial programs and strategies that support adoptive families (e.g., advocate for a provincial Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder strategy). page 57 "...we believe that the PAA should be an advocate for the creation of provincial programs and strategies that support adoptive families. For example, Ontario is the only province in Canada that does not have a provincial strategy for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). We heard that FASD touches a number of adoptive families, regardless of the service from which they have adopted. A provincial FASD strategy should be developed to provide improved and better coordinated supports, services and diagnoses for children with FASD, while raising public awareness and knowledge about the issue. As part of its role in supporting families post-adoption, the PAA could play a key role in contributing to the development of such a strategy...." "...Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) FASD is a disability resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol. An estimated nine in every 1,000 babies born in Canada are affected by the disability (Health Canada, 2005). According to the 2007 Crown ward review, approximately 4% of Crown wards in Ontario who have been Crown wards in Ontario for two years or more are identified as impacted by FASD. Many academics and professionals working with children in care believe these numbers to be overly conservative due, in part, to difficulties accessing and gaining accurate diagnoses of the disorder...." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090826/0bcf2f1a/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 26 19:30:02 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 26 18:34:16 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Expert Panel Releases Report on Infertility and Adoption in Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090826182952.036fcd48@ncf.ca> http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2009/26/c7687.html CNW Group August 26, 2009 Expert Panel Releases Report on Infertility and Adoption in Ontario -- Centralized adoption agency and funding for IVF among key recommendations -- TORONTO, Aug. 26 /CNW/ - After a year of multi-disciplinary study, Ontario's Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption today released its report on the current state of Ontario's adoption and assisted reproduction systems. The report, entitled Raising Expectations, makes detailed recommendations to help Ontarians build families by improving the systems. "Bold changes are needed," says David Johnston, Chair of the Expert Panel. "Ontario's adoption and assisted reproduction systems are not working as well as they could - and should - for children and families. There are many dedicated, courageous, and committed people providing and using services in both systems but the structures, policies, laws and costs are barriers." The report sets out an ambitious agenda for change, with recommendations that address the current barriers by empowering Ontarians, intervening early, and improving access to services. The Panel's recommendations include: 1. Create a provincial adoption agency with a local service presence to offer and manage public adoption services from system entry to post- adoption 2. Set consistent policy, standards and oversight for all adoption services 3. Overhaul Ontario's adoption legislation to address gaps and barriers in the public, private domestic and intercountry adoption systems and better support concurrent adoption planning for Crown wards 4. Make Crown wards with court-ordered access to their birth families legally free for adoption 5. Provide funding for adoption subsidies and supports for former Crown wards with special needs 6. Provide fertility education and monitoring at the primary care level to help people make informed family building choices 7. Require all in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics and fertility centres to be accredited and, as a condition of accreditation, require clinics to reduce their multiple birth rate to 15% within 5 years and 10% within 10 years 8. Provide public funding for three cycles of IVF under certain conditions, including covering the costs of ancillary services that are required 9. Reduce social and legal barriers to assisted reproduction so that Ontarians who could benefit from services are able to do so. In addition, the Expert Panel calls for the Government to provide more and better information, raise awareness and develop education programs to help Ontarians access adoption and assisted reproduction services more quickly and easily. "The Panel's recommendations can help Ontario seize the opportunity to become the best jurisdiction in which to build a family, in Canada and the world," says Johnston. "We see the public release of our report as the launch of the necessary awareness campaign. To maintain momentum, the government must move now to put the other necessary components in place." The full report is available at www.ontario.ca/creatingfamilies. Interested individuals and organizations are encouraged to link to it with any relevant web site. Additional Facts - 1 in 6 - Ontario couples who struggle with infertility in their lifetime - 1,600 - approximate number of children adopted into Ontario families each year through the province's three adoption services - public, private domestic and intercountry - 9,400 - approximate number of Crown wards in 2007-08, but only 822 adopted - Ontario's current adoption system is fragmented, complex and time- consuming, failing to quickly connect waiting children with potential families - Children who need families - particularly older children and youth - are often stuck in Ontario's child welfare system. Many of them have court-ordered access to their birth families that prevents them from being adopted - The single greatest barrier to assisted reproduction services is the cost. Most procedures are not covered by OHIP and are beyond the reach of most Ontarians - Clinics and fertility centers are not required to be accredited and people don't know where to go for the best care - The high cost of assisted reproduction services is leading to decisions which result in an unacceptably high rate of multiple births in Ontario - this threatens mothers' and children's health and well-being and results in high hospital and other health costs - Ontarians face other barriers accessing assisted reproduction services: some live too far from the small number of clinics, others - such as single people and same-sex couples - face social and legal barriers, and the stigma associated with infertility keeps many Ontarians from seeking help About the Expert Panel In 2007, the Ontario Government made a commitment to help Ontarians who struggle to build their families. In July 2008, the Government of Ontario appointed the Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption to help provide advice on how to improve access to assisted reproduction services and Ontario's adoption system. The report "Raising Expectations" represents the independent views of the Expert Panel and has been presented to the Government for consideration. The Expert Panel is made up of 11 members including reproductive endocrinologists, specialists in counselling, family medicine, complementary therapies and adoption; lawyers and business executives; people who have experienced infertility and/or used assisted reproduction first hand; and adoptive parents. The Panel was chosen to bring a breadth and depth of expertise and perceptions in the study areas relating to infertility, assisted reproduction and adoption. The Expert Panel's Methodology The Panel worked for a period of a year through a multi-disciplinary methodology to understand the challenges that Ontarians face when trying to build families through adoption or assisted reproduction. The study included an online survey of the public and a range of stakeholders, as well as in-person or telephone interviews of users of the adoption and/or assisted reproduction services. The Panel Members also reviewed literature on related subjects; examined policies and programs of other jurisdictions; conducted qualitative surveys of current key service providers; and reviewed presentations from experts and stakeholders in the field. For further information: or to schedule an interview with a representative of the Expert Panel, please contact David Johnston at (416) 212-2208 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090826/8f821f4a/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Aug 26 20:19:45 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Aug 26 19:22:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Drinking while pregnant Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090826191938.036fdaa0@ncf.ca> http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090825/FEAT05/908250339/Drinking-while-pregnant Clarion Ledger Jackson, Mississippi Drinking while pregnant Birth defects possible even if alcohol isn't abused, experts say Billy Watkins ? bwatkins@clarionledger.com ? August 25, 2009 The elder of the two boys is 9. He stands just 4 feet tall with tiny hands, curved fingers and a mind that cannot deal in abstract things such as time or money. His half-brother, who is 7, has many of the same characteristics. Both are battling Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, birth defects caused by their mother's use of alcohol while she was carrying them. "I am trying to educate anybody who will listen," says Kim Carter, 51, a Corinth resident who, along with her husband, adopted the children two years ago from another state. "People have heard for years, 'don't drink and drive.' Well, I'm here to tell you, don't drink and have babies." The state Department of Mental Health also is working to educate people about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy. "There aren't any hard statistics available on the chances of a child being born with FASD," says Trisha Hinson, the department's FASD state coordinator. "But here's what I say: If you want to drink while you're pregnant, you had better be really good at Russian roulette. Or I often use that line from the movie Dirty Harry when Clint Eastwood points the gun at the guy and asks him, 'How lucky do you feel?' "The bottom line is, alcohol can cause FASD. And when I say alcohol, I mean wine, beer, whatever. There is no safe amount of alcohol to drink when a woman is pregnant." FASD does not just occur when mothers abuse alcohol or drink heavily, according to the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Research shows only two drinks in early pregnancy or four drinks all at once - a binge episode - can kill developing brain cells. Because most women are several weeks into their pregnancy before becoming aware they are carrying a child, Hinson suggests this: "If you're of child-bearing age and drink, then don't have unprotected sex. "The brain is one of the first things to develop in a fetus. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, it goes into the baby's bloodstream and also into the amniotic fluid. The baby is literally swimming in alcohol. "Typically, a mother's liver can process an ounce of alcohol an hour. But a fetus doesn't have a liver to process it, so alcohol continues to cycle throughout the baby's body for the length of the pregnancy." "It's a crapshoot," she says. "My question, and what we are trying to get people to ask themselves is, why risk it?" Each child with FASD is affected differently. Some signs of the condition, according to Mayo Clinic, include: distinctive facial features, including small eyes, an exceptionally thin upper lip, a short, upturned nose and a smooth skin surface between the nose and upper lip; deformities of joints, limbs and fingers; slow physical growth; vision and hearing problems; poor coordination; sleep problems; and mental retardation. Most will have behavior and social skill deficits. "Simple things become a huge problem, like crossing the street," Carter says. "They will very easily forget to look to see if a car is coming. And we constantly have to repeat things. "But if things are written down, if they are concrete, they will usually remember. Our 9-year-old sat in Chuck E. Cheese's one night and stared at a guy playing pinball for about an hour. When the guy left, our son got up, put his coins in and proceeded to beat the machine at its own game. "When he makes his bed, you could bounce a quarter off of it. But one thing I've asked their teachers is not to overwhelm them. Don't hand them 20 sheets of paper to fill out. Hand them two, and they can do it." Both of the boys are A students in the gifted program at Corinth Elementary. "They are smart and can learn," Carter said. "They just face other challenges." If parents suspect their child might have FASD, they should call their local community mental health center to set up an assessment. "They need behavioral intervention," says Sandra Parks, director of the division of children and youth services at the state Department of Mental Health. "And that can be very manageable if the local teacher or social worker work together to find out what each child needs to help him or her succeed. "One reason Mississippi is known for taking the lead in FASD education and intervention is because our community health centers across the state have stepped up and said, 'We want to be part of identifying and treating these children.' " Carter says early intervention has made a difference in her 7-year-old's life. "He was diagnosed at a much earlier age," Carter says, "and he is beginning to grasp abstract things. He's seen speech pathologists, physical therapists, social workers who would come and play with him, work with him on shapes and colors. It's a noticeable difference in the two boys in that regard." To comment on this story, call Billy Watkins at (601) 961-7282. [Photo] Special to The Clarion-Ledger Experts say no amount of alcohol is considered safe to drink for pregnant women. 1 in 100 FASD affects 1 in 100 infants each year, more than autism, and Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, spina bifida and sudden infant death syndrome combined. It is the leading known preventable cause of mental retardation and birth defects and a leading known cause of learning disabilities. Source: National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Event What: Sixth annual Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Symposium, sponsored by the state Department of Mental Health and the Mississippi Advisory Council on FASD. When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 4. Where: Silver Star Hotel & Casino, Philadelphia. Cost: $40 per person; the symposium is open to the general public and will focus on the importance of treatment and intervention for children diagnosed with FASD. Phone: Call (601) 359-6291. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090826/973b7850/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Aug 27 09:16:29 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Aug 27 08:21:19 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Do Canadian Prenatal Record Forms Integrate Evidence-based Guidelines for the Diagnosis of a FASD? article Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090827081622.0348ae28@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Aug 28 09:51:13 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Aug 28 08:52:10 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol, Pregnancy and Brain Cell Death Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090828084514.036f8ca0@ncf.ca> http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/research/alcohol-and-the-deat-20090826 Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey Media Relations Research Highlights [August 27, 2009] Alcohol, Pregnancy and Brain Cell Death NIH awards Rutgers researcher $3.5 million to explore molecular basis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [Photo] Professor Dipak Sarkar Dipak Sarkar recently received a $3.5 million MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue researching the damaging effects of alcohol on the nervous systems of the unborn. The MERIT (Method to Extend Research In Time) Award will extend NIH support another 10 years for one of Sarkar?s research grants, now in its 13th year. Sarkar has five active grants that support the work of 16 research assistants, including post-doctoral students, graduate students, undergraduates, and a senior scientist, who collaborate on his research projects. Sarkar jokingly says he needs five grants ?just to feed these people.? [Photo of pregnant woman drinking wine] Drinking alcoholic beverages while pregnant can permanently damage the child's brain. ?Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a significant public health problem and may result in a wide range of adverse outcomes for the child,? Sarkar says. ?Many Fetal Alcohol Syndrome patients have problems coping with stress; they have learning disabilities, infections, and increased susceptibility to diseases.? These problems stem from the alcohol-induced destruction of neurons in the part of the brain known as the hypothalamus. These beta-endorphin neurons produce the endorphin hormone and are particularly vulnerable during the early development of the fetus. [Diagram] Diagram of the brain showing the hypothalamus, home to beta-endorphin neurons, in relation to other parts of the brain. Sarkar is a professor in the Department of Animal Science at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, director of the Endocrine Research Program, and a faculty member of the Center for Alcohol Studies. His interest in alcohol research began in 1990 when he serendipitously observed the neuron-killing effect of a small dose of alcohol while working on neuronal development. Sarkar?s research has shown that a seemingly irreversible reduction in the number and function of beta-endorphin neurons results in a permanent impairment of stress and immune system functions throughout life. While the body often displays the ability to recover from damage or disease, this does not seem to come into play with the loss of beta-endorphin neurons. Sarkar says that preliminary data on the reduced function of beta-endorphin neurons is pointing toward ?epigenetic? changes as a causal factor ? changes in biochemistry that inhibit the genes responsible for these particular neurons. The genes themselves become abnormal and, while they may be producing some cells, the cells do not produce endorphin. ?One thing we cannot reverse is the death of these cells, but maybe we can reverse those epigenic alterations that are ultimately responsible for their demise,? Sarkar says. [Photo of man under stress] A shortage of beta-endorphin neurons can impair stress coping. His continuing research is aimed at discovering the molecular mechanism involved in alcohol?s toxic action on beta-endorphin neurons. A clear understanding of the underlying mechanism could offer a starting point from which to develop pharmaceuticals for fetal alcohol patients in the future. Beta-endorphin neurons are also known as opioids because, like opium-based narcotics, their hormone products have the ability to reduce pain and increase a sense of well-being. Their loss would consequently have an opposite effect, reducing the ability to manage stress. Consistent with this condition but unrelated to fetal alcohol exposure, there is substantial evidence that people with depression, schizophrenia, and other psychological disorders also have lower numbers of opioids, Sarkar says. These neurons also have connections with the lymphatic system, which is engaged in transporting immune cells to and from the lymph nodes and can stimulate an immune response. Again, a reduction in the number of opioids can lessen the immune response and decrease the body?s ability to fight infection and disease. Beyond stress and immune function, the opioid system is also very much involved in metabolism. Sarkar notes that researchers are finding substantial evidence that an altered opioid system is involved in the metabolic changes leading to diabetes as well as obesity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090828/317c140c/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 31 18:44:52 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 31 17:52:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD Awareness Day - Owen Sound Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090831174442.045476c8@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 31 18:45:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 31 17:52:23 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASDay 2009 Belleville Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090831174547.045472f0@ncf.ca> Press Release: National FASDay: September 9, 2009 (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Day) Contact: Jill Dockrill, Executive Director Office: (613) 961-1333 Cell : (613) 921-5827 Quinte Mohawk Tyendinaga School : (613) 962-4447 In Canada this year, 330,000 babies will be born. ( http://www40.statcan.ca ). 10 of these babies might become HIV positive. ( CDC National HIV 2003 Surveillance Report ). 110 of these babies will be born with Muscular Dystrophy. ( Muscular Dystrophy Association ). 253 of these babies will have Spina Bifida. ( American Association of Neurological Surgeons ). 330 of these babies will be born with Down Syndrome . ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 643 of these babies will have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. ( National Organization. of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome ). 3,300 babies will be born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. ( Teratology 1997 Nov;56(5):317-26 ). Comprehensive lifetime cost of just one baby with FAS could be as much as $6 million. ( FAS Community Resource Center ). The projected cost to Canada of caring for the estimated 280,000 Canadians living with FASD over their lifetimes is approximately $420 billion ( Canada's Secretary of State for Children and Youth ). The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Treatment and Education Centre Inc. (FASTEC Inc.) is a registered non-profit charitable organization established in 2001, which offers supports and services to individuals and families who are affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). On September 9, 1999, bells around the world marked the "magic minute" at 9:09 a.m., which represents the ninth minute, of the ninth hour, of the ninth day, of the ninth month, of pregnancy. This event was named the "The FAS Bell Concordance." Bells ranged from the historic 56-bell carillon in Cape Town, South Africa, to tiny bells rung by school children in Toledo, Ohio, along with the sounds of wind chimes and rain sticks of Sioux-Lookout, Ontario. The bell idea represents a purity which reminds us of the innocence of children. Also, bells are historically associated with warnings and alarms, marking important moments, and simply pealing for the joy of connecting with our community. FASDay is all of these things. This day provides us with the opportunity to educate our communities about the dangers of consuming alcohol while pregnant. September 9, 2009, FASTEC Inc. is organizing an Educational, Awareness, Prevention and Fundraising Campaign; On Wednesday September 9, 2009, at 9.09 a.m., Tom Wilkinson, a 31 year old individual who is affected by FASD, accompanied by his dog Shadow, will walk 9 times around the Quinte Mohawk Tyendinage schools sports track with students. All will be ringing bells in the hopes our message of "Zero Alcohol for Nine Months" will be heard. After their walk Tom will be speaking to the students about the dangers of consuming alcohol while pregnant. The students will be fundraising in support of "Tom's Walk" 2009. On Wednesday September 9, 2006 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. FASTEC Inc. is organizing a Dinner and Silent Auction at 41 Octavia Street, in the common room of the Community Resource Centre Quinte. Members of our FASD Support Group will participate in the evening events and we will ring bells in the hopes our message will be heard around the world. Ticket prices are $35.00 per couple or $20.00 per person. Educational material about FASD will be available at all events. Fundraising activities for this day will provide supports and services for individuals affected by FASD and their family members living in our community. Everyone is welcome to attend these events. For further information contact: FASTEC Inc. Helping People Reach Their Potential Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Treatment & Education Centre Inc. We are dedicated to assisting people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) by providing supports and services to them, their families, and our community. FASTEC Inc. 41 Octavia St. Unit U3, Belleville, ON K8P 3P1 PHONE: (613) 961-1333 FAX: (613) 961-7112 www.fastec.org jillfastec@netscape.net Revenue Canada Registered Charitable # 89041 3719 RR0001 United Way Funded Agency -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090831/e5430e71/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 31 18:46:24 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 31 17:52:30 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD DAY Sept. 9th, 2009 North Bay, Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090831174616.04547060@ncf.ca> Community Counselling Centre of Nipissing The Ontario Trillium Foundation My friend has ARND. If the father drinks, can it hurt the baby? In late February, 1999, a small group of burned-out parents, most of whom had never met face-to-face, began to change the world. Since then, hundreds of communities around the world have joined us to honour International FASD Awareness Day (FASD Day). ? ? ? ? ? What's pFAS? How do I know if I have FASD? Where can I go for help? Can FASD be cured? I am only 2 months pregnant; how many drinks are too many? Celebrate with us on Wednesday Sept. 9th, 2009 (9:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.) at WAL-MART and learn about FASD. For information call: Elaine Cousineau at (705) 472-6515 #259 Community Counselling Centre of Nipissing- www.cccnip.com [Attached is the Proclamation from the Office of the Mayor of the City of North Bay] Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:47:05 -0400 From: Elaine Cousineau Subject: FASD DAY Sept. 9th, 2009 Do you have clients, friends or relatives interested in learning more about FASD? Around the world, bells will ring at 9 minutes after 9 on the 9th day of the 9th month so the world will remember that during the nine months of pregnancy a woman should abstain from alcohol. This year the FASD Family Support group and friends supporting this cause will host a small display at Walmart. Anyone wishing to join us is welcome.(See attachments.) Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support..... Elaine Cousineau F.A.S.D. Community Education Coordinator Community Counselling Centre 361 McIntyre Street East, North Bay, Ontario P1B 1C9 (705) 472-6515 ext. # 259 "There is no safe amount of alcohol that can be consumed while pregnant!" see www.cccnip.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090831/641a26d9/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 31 18:48:31 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 31 17:52:35 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day SEPT. 9 Ottawa Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090831174806.01fecda0@ncf.ca> You are invited to the International FASD Awareness Day event September 9 in Ottawa. The FASD Coalition of Ottawa will host an event to mark the 10th Anniversary of International FASD Awareness Day, entitled ?FASD: Footsteps Over Time?. The event will be held at 300 Peres Blancs. (the old Vanier City Hall), Sept 9, 2009 from 8:30 ? 10 am. Activities will include a light breakfast, displays and a program moderated by Adrian Harewood from CBC Radio. The program will include presentations by individuals affected by FASD and a book reading of ?Forgetful Frankie? (the story of a young boy with FASD). Everyone is welcome. For more information see www.fasdottawa.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090831/a3aa9500/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Aug 31 18:53:32 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Aug 31 17:52:39 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Seizing newborns an ethical minefield: New Brunswick Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090831175325.03a28708@ncf.ca> "...studies in pediatric neurology suggest the most critical time a baby is affected by a mother with alcohol or drug problems is in the first three months of a pregnancy...." http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/775621 Telegraph-Journal Saint John, New Brunswick Seizing newborns an ethical minefield Published Saturday August 29th, 2009 Protection Province has means, but using them controversial, ethicists say Adam Huras Telegraph-Journal New Brunswick has numerous options in dealing with parents who may endanger the lives of their children, but any action the government takes could be controversial, according to two of the country's leading ethicists. [Photo] Canadian Press Margaret Somerville McGill University ethicist Margaret Somerville believes governments should consider laws to identify unborn children as human beings with the right to protection. Arthur Schafer of the University of Manitoba warns that, if doctors and public health officials gradually become police officers, women who may be at risk of fatally harming their children will avoid seeking medical care all together. New Brunswick's Child Death Review Committee on Thursday recommended the government find ways to deal with parents who are known to the Department of Social Development and are expecting a baby. The Telegraph-Journal has learned the recommendation was in reaction to the January death of a newborn in the St. Stephen area. The review committee's recommendation confirmed that the parents of the deceased infant were already known to the child protection services before the death occurred. The baby's body was found in a wooded area behind the couple's home. "One of the reasons why this area is so fraught with difficulty is because it lands right in the middle of the debate about what is acceptable in consideration of women," Somerville said. "I think we really need to think about our protection of children. "What is happening here is the recognition that we have, as a community, to protect children after they are born." The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled on a Manitoba case in which an expecting mother was forced by child services to undergo treatment for addiction problems. The court ruled that move infringed on the mother's rights. An Ontario court case used the conduct of a mother during pregnancy to successfully prove her child would be in harm's way after birth. The child was taken from the mother after it was born. Somerville, a world-renowned academic, also pointed out that in the United States there are several jurisdictions that prosecute women for the delivery of a toxic substance to another person during birth. "But to do that you have to recognize that the fetus legally exists, where Canada so far says it doesn't," she said. "I think we should pass a law which at least gives some protection to fetuses as of viability (the shortest period of pregnancy after which a child born prematurely has any chance of survival). "The thing is that politicians are absolutely terrified of touching any of these issues as everyone has different ideological views on this stuff." The Supreme Court of Canada has consistently ruled that, under current laws, the fetus does not exist as a human being needing protection, and the Criminal Code holds that a child becomes a human being for the purposes of a homicide offence only after it is born alive. Schafer, who has written on the Manitoba Supreme Court of Canada case, discredits the consideration of legal action. "Legally, a pregnant woman cannot be incarcerated or deprived of her liberty prior to birth in order to protect the fetus or baby who will be born," Schafer said. "Many people think the welfare of the child should come first before the liberty of the woman, if she so abuses her responsibility to the fetus. "My argument is that attempting to imprison pregnant women with the goal of protecting the fetus is counterproductive." Schafer said studies in pediatric neurology suggest the most critical time a baby is affected by a mother with alcohol or drug problems is in the first three months of a pregnancy. "Apprehending a mother five months after she has already been glue sniffing or binge drinking, or consuming crack cocaine, is usually unlikely to protect the baby," he said. "And, if you turn doctors and public health officials into police officers, a community of at risk women will avoid seeking medical care and that puts them even more at risk. "It doesn't work and indeed it works in reverse." Schafer said there is a lot that can be done by governments through social policy. "Providing economic subsidies, free milk and juice, counselling, substance abuse centres," he said. "If you want to ask what governments can do, there are tons of things governments can do along those lines. "It's good social policy that will save the lives." Dealing directly with sexual abuse and child poverty are other suggestions, Schafer said. Both ethicists said they support the idea of "safe haven" bill, such as the one proposed by the Opposition Tories in New Brunswick during the last legislative sitting. If passed, the bill would allow a mother to leave her baby - within 72 hours of birth - at a local emergency room in the care of a doctor or nurse. It would also legislate that no questions would be asked of parents and no legal action would be pursued for abandoning the infant. The baby would then be put up for adoption. The ethicists agree, however, that the law does nothing pre-emptive in dealing with expecting parents already known to child protection services. Bernard Richard, New Brunswick ombudsman and child and youth advocate, said Thursday he has put three of his staff on a fact-finding mission to aid the government in responding the Child Death Review Committee's recommendation. Somerville said that any changes made by the Department of Social Development should leave behind personal beliefs and focus on the potential for the greatest good. "No matter what our ideological positions on this issue are, it is preferable for everybody that, as far as possible, everything be voluntary and not coerced," Somerville said. "For something to be voluntary you have to have support and compassionate, adequate services available." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090831/e8396014/attachment.html