From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Dec 3 10:54:00 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Dec 3 10:52:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Funds to fuel study into child brain disorders: B.C. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091203105318.039178e0@ncf.ca> "...study ways to reduce costs to the health-care system through early intervention and treatment of children with developmental brain disorders. These include autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy...." http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/12/01/brain-disorders-developmental-research-bc.html cbcnews Health Funds to fuel study into child brain disorders Last Updated: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 | 3:25 PM ET CBC News [Photo] Instructional assistant Jessica Reeder touches her nose to get Instructional assistant Jessica Reeder touches her nose to get Jacob Day, who is autistic, to focus his attention on her during therapy in 2007. Autism is one of the disorders researchers will investigate as part of a new research network announced on Tuesday. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) A Canada-wide research network aimed at finding treatments for children with developmental brain disorders was one of three funding announcements made by the federal government on Tuesday. At the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Networks of Centres of Excellence in Ottawa, Gary Goodyear, minister of state for science and technology, announced the government is investing $125 million to help researchers develop their findings into marketable solutions. The three new Network Centres of Excellence include: * NeuroDevNet, led by Daniel Goldowitz from the University of British Columbia. Under a five-year research plan, investigators will study ways to reduce costs to the health-care system through early intervention and treatment of children with developmental brain disorders. These include autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. Researchers will explore how the brain develops, how to detect abnormalities and how to repair the damaged brain. * The GRAND Network (Graphics, Animation and New media), led by Kellogg Booth from the University of British Columbia, which will explore new social media, e-learning and educational/entertainment environments that enhance learning and skill development, such as virtual museums and galleries and e-health services. GRAND will include 30 projects and 50 investigators clustered around five themes: new media challenges and opportunities; games and interactive simulation; animation, graphics and imaging; and cross-cutting themes of social, legal, economic and cultural perspectives and enabling technologies and methodologies. * The CMC Network, led by Stephen Larter from the University of Calgary, which will develop technologies needed to "decarbonize" fossil fuel production and use. The NeuroDevNet researchers share a passion for understanding brain development, said Goldowitz, a senior scientist at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and a professor in UBC's department of medical genetics. "The group has unparalleled expertise in brain imaging, the interaction of genetics and environment and modelling neurodevelopmental disorders, skills that will help create preventative and therapeutic measures for Canadian children," he said in a release. Goodyear also launched a new competition for up to four new Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091203/611d046d/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Dec 3 10:54:19 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Dec 3 10:52:15 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Autism Moms Have Stress Similar To Combat Soldiers Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091203105411.0395a070@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Dec 7 10:00:35 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Dec 7 10:04:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] N.L. trying to deal with issues at school troubled by suicide, alcohol abuse Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091207100027.040d04b8@ncf.ca> "...points to the high number of students needing special attention, mainly due to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder...." N.L. trying to deal with issues at school troubled by suicide, alcohol abuse The Canadian Press. Toronto: Dec 4, 2009. ST. JOHN'S, N.L. [Newfoundland & Labrador] The majority of students at an aboriginal school in Labrador have been directly impacted by suicide and alcohol abuse and are in dire need of counselling and support, a report states. A 2006 study at the Jens Haven Memorial School in Nain details high rates of dropouts and absenteeism among its 300 students and points to the high number of students needing special attention, mainly due to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The study, obtained by Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones through an access-to-information request, was the subject of debate in the legislature Thursday. Jones wanted to know why a report done three years ago was never released to the public. ``I ask the minister today why the report was kept hidden,'' she said to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Patty Pottle. The report details how two-thirds of the school's students have been directly impacted by suicide and require monitoring or intense support. It found that less than half of those who start school in the community actually complete their education. Alcohol abuse continues to be a problem in Nain, with the report noting that the bar in the community of just 1,200 residents is the third-most profitable in the entire province. Education Minister Darin King said progress has been made since the report's completion in dealing with a backlog of special-needs students. King denied that the report was kept secret, saying it was prepared by the school's administration and government didn't receive it until last year. He said the province has since cleared a backlog of assessing special-needs students at the school. ``In education, you don't bring in new initiatives and new resources one day and expect six months down the road, necessarily, that you're going to see a systemic change,'' he said. King said more teachers have been hired for the school, the curriculum is being reviewed, and meetings have been held with the remote Inuit community. Jones said 72 per cent of the school's students were directly affected by the suicide of a close family member; two-thirds required moderate or intense education support; only 46 per cent stayed in school until Grade 12 and no students between grades 4 and 7 were performing at an advanced level. The report also said that 95 per cent of the students in Grade 7 were performing below basic levels. Jones said there's no indication government followed up on the report or that any of the statistics had improved. ``I am told right now that there are still some very critical problems that exist in that school that still need to be addressed,'' she said. (St. John's Telegram) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091207/4999c352/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Mon Dec 7 18:42:08 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon Dec 7 18:46:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Programs to enhance FASD support & diagnosis: Alberta Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091207183510.03596c28@ncf.ca> http://www.edsonleader.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2210095 Edson Leader Edson, Alberta News - Local News Programs to enhance FASD support and diagnosis Posted 5 hours ago [on Dec. 7, 2009] By Victoria Carnaghan A newly created board will co-ordinate prevention and support services in the region for those with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and their families. A governing board was created six months ago with representatives who are familiar with various facets of FASD from organizations such as Friendship Centres, FCSS, child and family services, municipalities, aboriginal communities, Alberta Justice and Alberta Employment. According to Sharon Broughton, an Edson public health nurse who sits as a public member of the board, the group's job was to look at what services are being provided, what might be lacking and determine ways to fill any gaps. In the coming year, two projects will benefit the region: one will provide outreach to females who have a high risk of bearing FASD children (such as those with addictions), and the other will improve access to diagnosis for families that suspect one of their members may have an FASD disability. FASD describes a range of disabilities caused by brain damage that results when a baby is born to a mother that drank while she was pregnant. A new outreach program, spearheaded by the Hinton Friendship Centre and Whitecourt's Healthy Families and Futures, will give women of child-bearing age someone to talk to if they are, or plan to get, pregnant but have problems with drinking. Counselling and support will be offered to all high-risk women in the Northwest Central Alberta region: which comprises communities from Jasper east to Thorhild County, south to Onoway and North to Wabasca. The program will give women life skills to cope with their experiences, Broughton said. Another new program will allow individuals to more easily determine whether they or a family member has FASD. Multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis teams will travel to each individual community to do the assessments. Currently, people have to drive to Glenrose Hospital in Edmonton to be diagnosed with FASD. Furthermore, under the new program, if a person is diagnosed with having FASD, he or she will immediately be connected with various support services in his or her community. The team will also continue to follow up with the individual to make sure the person is getting the help he or she needs. These teams should be up and running by next April, Broughton said. She said she was happy to see these projects emerge from the planning process. "It is exciting to finally see it happening," after months of planning, she said. "There is enthusiasm in the community. Something's going to happen here and we can make a difference, and that's pretty positive." FASD is drawing great support from the province, Broughton said and the committee has a $750,000 budget. According to the province, 360 babies are born with FASD each year even though 99 per cent of Albertans say they are aware of the disorder. The disorder is preventable, but has no cure. If you or someone you know is having problems with drinking during pregnancy, you can find local support by calling (780) 415-8150. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091207/9a9e18ad/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Dec 8 21:37:46 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Dec 8 21:40:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Addiction and Mental Health Indicators Among Ontario Adults, 1977-2007 Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091208213738.03c4dd10@ncf.ca> [No mention of FASD or pregnancy] The September 2009 issue of the CAMH Centre for Addiction and Mental Health eBulletin entitled "Highlights from the CAMH Monitor eReport: Addiction and Mental Health Indicators Among Ontario Adults, 1977-2007" is now available to download at: http://www.camh.net/Research/Areas_of_research/Population_Life_Course_Studies/eBulletins/research_population_ebulletins.html on page 3 of 4 Trends in Substance Use Alcohol . . The percentage of the total adult population reporting drinking alcohol in the past year significantly increased between 2006 and to 2007 from 78% to 82%. The increase was especially evident among women (from 74% to 78%) and those aged 18 to 29 years (from 85% to 90%). .. Among women, both daily drinking and average number of drinks consumed weekly have been increasing since 2001. No changes are evident for men. .. The percentage consuming 5 or more drinks on a single occasion weekly (heavy drinking) increased over the past 20 years and currently remains at an elevated rate, especially among men and 18 to 29 year-olds. The 2007 estimate for heavy drinking among 18 to 29 year-olds is the highest on record, increasing from 11% in 1995 up to 26% in 2007. .. Indicators of hazardous/harmful drinking among the total population have been increasing since 2001, from 13% up to 16% in 2007. This increase was especially evident among women, and 18 to 29 year olds. .. The prevalence of drinking and driving in the total population has significantly decreased over the past decade from 13% in 1996 to 6% in 2007...... Flagging Some Public Health Issues ... Several indicators of heavy drinking and problematic drinking are currently at elevated rates. Moreover, among the subgroups, women and young adults have shown prominent increases over the past decade..... The full report [179 pages] is available to download at: http://www.camh.net/Research/camh_monitor.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091208/894949cd/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Dec 10 10:26:21 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Dec 10 10:28:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Foster children struggle in school: Alberta Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091210102613.04087850@ncf.ca> "...There should be some alternative schooling to benefit kids who don?t do well in traditional school...." ?...'The more young people move around and change schools, the less well they are going to do,'...? [read the Comments - FASD mentioned] www.canada.com 7 Dec 2009 Calgary Herald COLETTE DERWORIZ CALGARY HERALD Foster children struggle in school Fewer than 1 in 5 graduate on time: study Four of every five children under Albert a government care don?t complete high school within three years of entering Grade 10, says the province?s child advocate. In an interview with the Herald, advocate John Mould said provincial data compiled for his latest annual report ? released this fall ? confirms his concerns about the high school completion rates of Alberta?s foster children. The rate for children in care hovers around 18 per cent, while the provincial rate is about 70 per cent. ?It?s dreadful,? Mould said. ?It?s not acceptable.? Mould, who first raised the issue in his 2006-07 annual report, said the Alberta numbers are consistent with similar data in other provinces. It shows high school completion rates for youths in care have been well below the overall provincial rates for at least a decade. The data was compiled by Alberta Children and Youth Services and Alberta Education in response to Mould?s concerns. The provincial departments looked at children in care from 1995-96 to 2006-07. ?The bottom line is that over the 10 years of data that we have, children and youth in care who complete high school within three years after entering Grade 10 is less than 20 per cent,? said Karen Sliwkanich, senior manager of cross ministry services for Alberta Education. ?So, basically from Grade 3 through Grade 6 through Grade 9, it gets progressively worse. ?They drop out at higher rates,? she added. See page five 7 Dec 2009 Calgary Herald CDERWORIZ@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM FOSTER: Dropout rates almost three times Alberta average From page A1 Alberta?s child welfare system has come under fire repeatedly this year due to a series of troubling incidents: four youths in government care have been charged in relation to homicides; the RCMP continues to investigate how a baby boy was severely injured in foster care in the Calgary area in March; and, a high-ranking official was cited for contempt of court after he ignored a court order directing him to return a child to his foster mother. There are currently about 12,000 children and youths in the province?s care. Mould?s annual report, based on the data compiled by the province, shows most of those children perform worse in school than all other students in Alberta at every step along the way. Foster children who wrote provincial achievement tests did considerably worse than their peers. For example, 61 per cent of children in care met the acceptable standard in Grade 3 math compared to 80 per cent of all Alberta students. By the time they hit Grade 9, the success rate drops to 22 per cent compared to 66 per cent of all students. Dropout rates are also higher among children who have been in foster care. In 2005-06, the rate of youth in care dropping out of school was 14.4 per cent ? almost three times higher than rates for all Alberta students. School completion is considered one of the most important factors for success as an adult. As a result, Sliwkanich said the province has drafted a protocol to track the success of those students by working closely with caregivers, case workers and school employees to support the foster child. ?There needed to be better connections,? she said. ?There needed to be better consistency and sharing of information.? The protocol is currently being field tested in four areas ? Edmonton (urban), Wetaskiwin (near a Native reserve), Athabasca (rural) and Lac la Biche (part of a Metis settlement) ? before it will be evaluated and phased in across the province next fall. It will include a detailed plan for each foster child and a point person at each school to specifically deal with those children. The protocol comes as the provincial government has been trying to improve overall high school completion rates, which have remained almost unchanged over the past four years at about 70 per cent despite a $6-million investment by the province. There is no indication the rates among foster children have improved since the latest numbers were compiled by the Alberta government. Trelaine Robanski, a foster care manager with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary, said the province needs to do everything it can to keep foster children in school. ?Part of what we need to look at is the individual needs of kids,? she said. ?Our society is changing. Success is measured in different ways. There should be some alternative schooling to benefit kids who don?t do well in traditional school. ?If we can keep coming up with these types of programs, we?ll see more success rate and more kids graduating.? Robanski, who has 40 beds for foster children and youths, said it?s also important to ensure children stay in the same school. It?s a concern that?s top of mind for Mould. ?The more young people move around and change schools, the less well they are going to do,? he said, noting his work isn?t complete. ?We?re going to go back in now and look at the movement of young people who are in care. ?Unless we do something to start to manage the number of moves, to decrease the number of moves, we?re going to have a proportion of young people who are simply not going to do well in school.? 7 Comment(s) DMB 07 December 2009 07:42 Funny according to good old ?TARCHUK? the minister responsible for the Department of Children's & Youth Services there's NOTHING wrong with the FOSTER CARE system in THIS province. Really!! Not only have there been a series of troubling incidents not the least of which is a BABY boy SEVERELY injured having sustained injuries that will have LIFE LONG repercussions, the department allowed good ol' martin edmond DUROCHER of AIRDRIE to continue to care for FOSTER CHILDREN even after having been faxed more than enough irrefutable EVIDENCE that he committed CRIMINAL ACTS not the least of which was FRAUD & PERJURY in a Provincial Court of Law. HELL they even named DUROCHER ~~ FOSTER PARENT of the YEAR and allowed him to be PRESIDENT of The Foster Parent?s Association of Calgary!!!!! martin edmond DUROCHER of AIRDRIE ~~ liked to go around posing as a phony licensed pre-paid CONtractor, using a phony illegally incorporated business name, (just one of two) passing out and advertising his phony CONtracting company on printed up business cards enjoyed taking a SEVERELY PHYSICALLY DISABLED widow to the cleaners for $39,000.00, leaving her home a DEATH TRAP. DUROCHER openly admitted he knew he couldn't do what he did but did it any way because he needed the money, committed PERJURY & who showed NO remorse & NO regret in a Provincial Court of Law!! What does the province do? Do they criminal charge DUROCHER with FRAUD? HELL No ~~ they issued a "LETTER of WARNING!!!" Do the cops charge DUROCHER with FRAUD ~~~ HELL no!!! Instead they THREATENED the VICTIM in a voice mail, "I'm warning you NOW to drop this thing."!!! DUROCHER even had the audacity to bring along 2 FOSTER CHILDREN while he committee his crimes (what an incredible role model!!!!) Irrefutable evidence of DUROCHER?S CRIMINAL ACTS and EVIDENCE that BOTH the investigator for the province and his ex-cop buddies in Commercial Crimes LIED that FRAUD had NOT occurred was faxed to MR. Ed, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Children & Youth Services Janice Tarchuk. (she also likes to spend $2000.00+/day of TAX PAYER $$ on a little 4 day trip to New York while FOSTER PARENTS are placing ads on a FREE for the giving web site begging for cribs, clothing & toys for FOSTER CHILDREN in care) What did the 3 of them do with THIS evidence?? NOTHING other than possibly using it as padding for they brains while sitting!! One more way to ?stick it in the ear? to the weakest of all vulnerable groups in this province. Way to go CONServative?s!!!!! M.K. 07 December 2009 08:10 Children in care may be more likely to come from difficult or dysfunctional backgrounds and may be proportionately more likely than the general population to be struggling with emotional or health issues, all of which form obstacles to learning or to success in our province's school system. This article tells us about the discrepancy but there's nothing here to indicate whether provincial agencies or oversight are at fault or whether children in foster care tend to share other burdens - physical disabilities or patterns of abuse or neglect in their biological family histories - for which provincial agencies are not responsible but which will continue to cause difficulties for those children for years to come. Laurie 07 December 2009 10:20 It took a study to prove this? Ya Think? Of course they struggle, their lives are a struggle many of us can not even comprehend. How about spending the money spent on this study on helping these kids!! DMB 07 December 2009 12:03 Oh "Laurie" your suggestion is VERY good however I hate to be the bearer of bad news. In order to implement your suggestion it would take a level and degree of intelligence that NONE of the CONServative's have. JAM 07 December 2009 12:30 My wife and I have been foster parents for over 8 years, during this time we have had the privelage of fostering over 16 children in our home. I would say that about 70% of these children came to us with severe emotional and/or mental disabilities. Our three current children are either coded with/or show signs of Fetal Alchohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) which severly limits their ability to understand and learn at their grade level. If intervention by social services occurs at an early age this kids seem to thrive in an enviorment that is stable, caring, and structured. Unfortunatly this article focuses only on the results of the reality at is foster care and not on the underlying reasons that create this result. The problem is less a result of the system but more so a limitation of the children in the system, much of which is NOT the fault of the children. There is no cure for FASD...it is a physical disability. Shelley Gold 07 December 2009 16:02 Of course these children have greater challenges to begin with, which ultimately affect their performance in school. Their parents are more likely to have abused drugs and alcohol before and after their births. We don't need this study to tell us that emotionally damaged children struggle more with school than children from stable homes. The best quality foster home can't undo old wounds; at best they can mitigate the scarring. Anne 07 December 2009 21:10 And I doubt if there are too many "best quality" foster homes out there (excepting the guy above who wrote an excellent letter) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091210/5b895508/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Dec 10 21:52:27 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Dec 10 21:52:06 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Saskatoon researcher leads study into childhood brain disorders Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091210215209.0459a408@ncf.ca> "...The NeuroDeveNet project will focus initially on autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy..." "...More than 70 researchers from a wide range of disciplines..." .http://www.canada.com/health/Saskatoon+researcher+leads+study+into+childhood+brain+disorders/2318130/story.html canada.com Health Saskatoon researcher leads study into childhood brain disorders By Tricia Hrycan, Saskatoon StarPhoenix December 8, 2009 SASKATOON ? University of Saskatchewan researcher Nazeem Muhajarine has been selected to lead a $19.5 million, nationwide study into childhood brain disease. The NeuroDeveNet project will focus initially on autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. "What we really hope to do . . . is to understand the scientific basis of the three conditions that are relatively common among children in their early years that have huge consequences not only to them but to their families as well," said Muhajarine who is with the university's School of Medicine. The project is funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) and is based at the University of British Columbia. It will focus on ways to identify, treat and prevent brain disorders in children, information that will be shared with health-care professionals, researchers, affected families and the general public. "We want to diagnose these children early and help them cope and function better. These are conditions that have an impact basically on the rest of their lives, not just for a few years.'' Muhajarine hopes to get across three key points in this study. "First, to understand scientific basis, secondly to diagnose, treat and help children cope with these disorders and third, really to increase awareness among all Canadians." More than 70 researchers from a wide range of disciplines will explore how the brain develops, how to detect abnormalities and how to repair the damaged brain. Muhajarine won the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation's 2009 Achievement Award recently for his work in turning research results into policies and programs to help Saskatchewan children. "I feel honoured because I think actually this award really represents the result of a whole team of researchers and staff. I am the one who gets up there and receives the award in a literal sense but there is a whole bunch of people behind this work." Muhajarine says this research should not be used simply for the sake of research but rather for the impact it will create on children, families and employees. "It's wonderful to be able to make a difference in people's lives, in people's careers, even in a small way that you have made a difference. That's an enormously gratifying feeling.'' -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091210/ab05749c/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Dec 12 12:35:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Dec 12 12:40:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New resources on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091212113813.02faea60@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Dec 12 17:39:05 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Dec 12 17:40:08 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Chief praises report on city crime prevention: Edmonton Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091212123728.02fae7d0@ncf.ca> [Old article from Sept. - don't know what has happened since]ER "...The recommendations -- endorsed unanimously by city council -- include offering more after-hours, drop-in programs at schools; creating a plan to deal with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and developing "cultural community groups" for minorities, among other things...." http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/edmonton/2009/09/17/10949841-sun.html Edmonton Sun News Edmonton Chief praises report on city crime prevention 'Colossal waste of money', critic says By FRANK LANDRY Last Updated: 17th September 2009, 2:59am Edmonton's top cop says he supports a plan to slash the city's crime rate by focusing on prevention techniques rather than toughening up laws. But one criminologist calls the whole approach "weak" and says it will do little to make Edmonton a safer city. Chief Mike Boyd yesterday pledged his "unreserved support" for the work of the Edmonton Taskforce on Community Safety. "This is an amazing piece of work in my view," Boyd told council. Boyd said the nine recommendations made by the task force address the kinds of "upstream" solutions he's talked about before. "It's getting out in front, looking at the early warning indicators ..." he said. The recommendations, though vague, focus solely on uncovering the root causes of crime, as well as crime prevention, "rather than punitive solutions," according to the group's final report. The recommendations -- endorsed unanimously by city council -- include offering more after-hours, drop-in programs at schools; creating a plan to deal with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and developing "cultural community groups" for minorities, among other things. They would be implemented over the next 10 years. There were no dollar figures attached. Mayor Stephen Mandel stressed much of the work could be done within existing budgets. But MacEwan College criminologist Bill Pitt said the $400,000 report was "a colossal waste of money." He called the recommendations soft on crime and said they read like an "NDP manifesto." What the city needs, Pitt said, is a combination of new prevention programs and beefed-up law enforcement. Council heard the next step will be naming a co-ordinating council to put the plan in motion. A transitional board is expected to get to work this fall, shoring up support from other agencies and levels of government. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091212/b22fdbb5/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Dec 12 18:39:47 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Dec 12 18:46:08 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Israel Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091212183459.02fac4e8@ncf.ca> http://www.ima.org.il/imaj/dynamic/web/showArt.asp?id=2674&nMonth=10&nYear=2009&sCat=Original IMAJ The Israel Medical Association Journal October 2009 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Israel View File Click here for article written by Yehuda Senecky, MD, Dov Inbar, MD, Gary Diamond, MD, Lina Basel-Vanagaite, MD, PhD, Shmuel Rigler, MD and Gabriel Chodick, PhD. IMAJ 2009: 9: October: 619-622 ***** Abstract: Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a range of disabilities caused by gestational exposure to alcohol. FASD[1] is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation and developmental disability in the United States, with an incidence of 1?10 per 1000 live births. FASD in Israel has yet to be examined systematically. Objectives: To evaluate professionals? experience, awareness and knowledge of FASD in Israel and their awareness of maternal consumption of alcohol, and to collect epidemiological data on the syndrome in Israel. Methods: A short questionnaire was sent to all 43 program directors of genetic institutes (n=14) and child developmental centers in Israel (n=29). Four questions related to their experience and knowledge of FASD. The epidemiological survey included data from all 17 hospitals in Israel and from the two main health management organizations within the public health care system. Results: The response rate was 98% (n=42). A total of 38.1% of respondents reported having diagnosed at least one case of FASD and fewer than 10% of respondents stated that the knowledge regarding FASD among physicians in Israel was adequate. Developmental pediatricians were more likely to have diagnosed at least one case as compared to geneticists. During the period 1998?2007 the diagnosis of FASD appeared in the records of only 4 patients from the total number of 17 hospitals in Israel. During the same period only six patients were diagnosed at the HMO[2] within the public health care system. Conclusions: Despite the accumulated knowledge on FASD in many countries and the increase in alcohol consumption in Israel, professionals? awareness of its potential damage is limited. Educational programs to increase physician awareness should accompany publicity campaigns warning the public of the dangers associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091212/b04d915f/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Dec 13 08:23:42 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Dec 13 08:28:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Study on families of individuals with FASD in Northern Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091213082334.04318640@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Dec 13 08:27:18 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Dec 13 08:28:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Problems expressed by caregivers of children with FASD Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091213082709.043183b0@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 16 12:33:20 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 16 12:34:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] New Screening Tool Helps Identify Children at Risk for Developmental Issues Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091214170603.036d4d88@ncf.ca> [not about FASD] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091207123759.htm New Screening Tool Helps Identify Children at Risk for Developmental Issues ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2009) ? When a baby is born, new parents often wonder, "Will he be the next President of the United States?" or "Could she be the one to find a cure for cancer?" But the underlying question for many specialists is, "Is this child 'at risk' for developmental issues?" Until now, an answer to this question has been elusive. A newborn exam, developed by a team led by Barry Lester, PhD, director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, will be featured in the December 7 issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Journal of Pediatrics. The exam, called the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS), was created to identify newborns who may have problems with school readiness and behavior at age four. This opens up the possibility of early intervention to prevent these problems. "There has long been interest in the use of newborn neurobehavior to forecast the future development of children," said Dr. Lester. "Many babies are considered 'at risk' for having behavioral, emotional or cognitive problems, especially as they reach school age, because of prenatal factors such as prematurity or substance exposure and postnatal factors like poverty or violence." Dr. Lester explained that the problem has been that not all babies who are identified as "high risk" will actually go on to have problems, and there has been no way to tell which high-risk infants will have problems and which will not. "If we could identify these babies at birth or shortly thereafter, we could develop preventive interventions to eliminate or minimize later developmental problems," he explained. Previous attempts to develop newborn neurobehavioral exams that predict later development were not very successful. The NNNS exam was developed under a contract for the National Institutes of Health and has been studied extensively through a large, multi-site study entitled the Maternal Lifestyle Study" (MLS) that is headquartered at Women & Infants Hospital under the leadership of Dr. Lester. "Over a period of two years, the NNNS exam was administered to more than 1,200 babies in four locations (Detroit, Memphis, Miami and Providence). We identified five distinct neurobehavioral profiles on the exam that ranged from normal performance to poor performance," continued Dr. Lester. At three to four and one half years of age, infants with poor performance were more likely to have behavior problems (age three), school readiness problems (age four) and low IQ (age four and one half). Forty percent of these infants had clinically significant problems externalizing (impulsivity and acting out), internalizing (anxiety, depression, withdrawn personalities), and with school readiness (delays in motor, concepts and language skills), and 35% had low IQ. Dr. Lester said, "One of the reasons that it has been so difficult to use tests on infants to predict later development is that infancy is a period of rapid change. We're measuring a moving target. Many children appear 'normal' as babies but develop problems later on, and many children who appear worrisome as babies go on to develop normally." Identification of children with developmental delay has received a great deal of attention in recent years, as children are believed to benefit most if they participate in intervention services as early as possible. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for a referral to early intervention or special education following a positive screening result. "The NNNS profiles identify the neurobehavioral deficits associated with poor outcome that could serve as target behaviors for the development of new or improved intervention studies. These findings can be used to guide programmatic intervention efforts targeted to those with indicated dysfunction," noted Dr. Lester. "These findings could also stimulate an important social policy debate. On the one hand, if used as a screen, the NNNS could fail to identify many infants who will later develop behavior problems, and it will identify many infants as deviant who will develop normally. The latter could suffer the negative effects of being labeled, and resources would be used unnecessarily. On the other hand, the NNNS is non-invasive, early intervention is benign, and there is the ethical responsibility of offering early intervention to parents whose infants have a 40% chance of having a childhood behavior disorder or school readiness problem. "Infant neurobehavioral tests may never meet standard criteria for medical screening, but we believe that the NNNS screen is an important tool in identifying potential problems and enabling intervention that could have life-long impact." The NNNS exam is now being used in centers in the U.S. and around the world for both research and intervention. Training for professionals to use the NNNS is being done at Women & Infants Hospital. Story Source: >Adapted from materials provided by >Brown University, via >EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats: APA MLA Brown University (2009, December 13). New screening tool helps identify children at risk for developmental issues. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 14, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com?? /releases/2009/12/091207123759.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091216/30a64725/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 16 12:33:59 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 16 12:40:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Nain education report paints dismal picture Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091216123348.038b83b8@ncf.ca> [More on a situation in Labrador: "N.L. trying to deal with issues at school troubled by suicide, alcohol abuse"] http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/12/04/nl-nain-education-0412109.html cbcnews.ca Canada Nain education report paints dismal picture Author says report meant to bring government attention to school Last Updated: Friday, December 4, 2009 | 3:46 PM NT CBC News A three-year-old report that is only now being made public portrays a disturbing picture of the community of Nain, on the northeast coast of Labrador, and is highly critical of the quality of education being delivered there. Administrators at the all-grade Jens Haven Memorial School prepared the report in 2006 and presented it to the provincial government. It highlights problems with failing grades, poor attendance and alcohol-related issues in the mostly aboriginal community of about 1,200. The report was released to the public Thursday by the Liberal Opposition, which obtained a copy under access to information laws. In some elementary grades, 95 per cent of the students are reading below the basic standards. Fewer than half of the students graduate from Grade 12, and most who do graduate receive a basic diploma, with few achieving the honours level. Three-quarters of the students are dealing with the trauma of suicide by family and friends. Fetal alcohol disorder cited The report points to a high dropout rate, with the majority of students showing characteristics of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The disorder results from damage to the brain of a fetus when the mother consumes alcohol during pregnancy. Only one-third of the students can follow the prescribed education curriculum, the report says, while the rest need moderate or intensive support. The community's only bar records the third-highest-grossing sales of alcohol in the province. The report recommends that teachers be allowed to deviate from the provincial curriculum and focus on basic self-esteem, literacy and problem-solving skills. It says this could be achieved if teachers were able to deal with individual children's needs instead of having to deliver a prescribed curriculum focused on placing students in specific grades. The author, Wayne Hallett, who was the principal of the school at the time, told CBC News on Friday that the report wasn't meant for public viewing. He said it was written only to push education officials into assigning more teachers to Jens Haven, to help deal with the problems the school was having delivering the curriculum. The report doesn't provide a full picture of the many positive experiences students have at the school, and "their commitment to school, their attachment to teachers," Hallett said. "There are lots and lots of very positive things that need to be said and could have been said, but that was not the intent of this document." Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones raised the report in the legislature Thursday, accusing the government of burying it. Education Minister Darin King denied that. He said that since receiving the report, the government has responded by hiring four more teachers for the school. Comments 28 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091216/edf1f519/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 16 12:34:32 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 16 12:40:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Court believes rapist can be reformed: Toronto Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091216123421.038b8270@ncf.ca> http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/12/04/12033316-sun.html Toronto Sun News Court believes rapist can be reformed By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU Last Updated: 4th December 2009, 4:32am Ontario's highest court has upheld a controversial lower court decision to spare a repeat rapist and sexual deviant from a lifetime behind bars. The man, known only as W.E.M., who suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, was sentenced to the equivalent of 15 years imprisonment and declared a long-term offender by Justice Frances Kiteley in 2007. The offender's name is covered by a publication ban, so his initials are being used. The judge rejected the prosecution's bid to have the now- 33-year-old declared a dangerous offender, which carries an indefinite sentence. The Crown decided to fight that ruling at the Court of Appeal. In a decision released earlier this week, the appeal court dismissed the Crown's arguments. The higher court ruling echoed Kiteley's conclusions, which preferred the evidence of defence psychiatrist Dr. Julian Gojer over Crown psychiatrist Dr. Lisa Ramshaw. "W.E.M. is a highly dangerous sexual offender who requires specialized drug treatments, therapies including sex-offender treatment and anti-androgen drugs in order to reduce the risk, as well as significant restrictions, obligations and supports when released into the community," wrote Justice Kathryn Feldman in an unanimous decision with fellow judges John Laskin and Harry LaForme. "He clearly qualifies as a dangerous offender." But, the appeal court agreed with Gojer that "with all the treatments, some of which were never offered to W.E.M. before, together with the appropriate legally imposed controls in the community, there is a reasonable possibility of reducing the risk to an acceptable level." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091216/805c11e2/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 16 12:34:49 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 16 12:40:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Local food banks see increased demand : Collingwood, Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091216123442.038b86d0@ncf.ca> "...'In 44.5 per cent of households turning to food banks, at least one member has a chronic health condition, including....Fetal Alcohol Syndrome'..." http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2206012 Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin Collingwood, Ontario Local news Local food banks see increased demand Posted By SHAWN GIILCK Posted 10 days ago [as of Dec. 14, 2009] As more than 375,000 Ontarians turn to food banks each month, demand is also growing in the Georgian Triangle. The spike in food bank usage represents an unprecedented annual increase of 19 per cent, a report from the Ontario Association of Food Banks stated Tuesday. "There's little doubt that this has been our most difficult year in a generation," said Adam Spence, executive director of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB). "The main driving factor is the economic downturn: job losses, reductions in hours, as well as people that are now losing benefits, either social assistance or employment insurance, because their benefit period is complete." Collingwood has two food banks, operated by the Salvation Army and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Jessie Kent, the co-ordinator of the Salvation Army Food Bank, said demand has risen, but so far it hasn't exceeded their capacity. "We're holding our own at the moment," she said. "Demand has increased somewhat with economic conditions, but it's minimal compared to other centres." At the Society, which operates in affiliation with St. Mary's Catholic Church, co-ordinator Mary Beth Sharpe said demand has risen steeply in the last year, coinciding with the recession. "Our demand for our food bank has increased about 60 per cent," she said. "Due to the generosity of the parishioners of St. Mary's parish both with food and monetary donations we have been able to keep our pantry stocked." The situation is grimmer at the Stayner Food Bank, which only reopened a little more than a year ago. "I have to shop for groceries every week (to stock the shelves)," said coordinator Wendy Jeffries. "We're always trying to keep up with the demand." The food bank is seeing up to 70 people a month, she added. She blamed most of the demand on the economic downturn, and said that while many of the people coming in have lost their jobs, a surprising percentage are people who are still working, but struggling to find enough money to pay their expenses. Many people have come to Stayner for its "more affordable" housing costs only to find they're still having problems "making ends meet," said Jeffries. That follows the findings of the report from the association. "Many families have felt the impact of the downturn with lower wages, fewer hours and job losses. One third (32 per cent) of persons heading households using food banks in Ontario are employed part-time or full-time or were recently employed in the last six months. In addition, another third (32 per cent) were unemployed due to disability, retired, or attending school full-time as a student," stated Spence in the report. "It may seem obvious to most, but the point is now crystal clear: the incomes of households turning to food banks are particularly low. The average income for households of all sizes turning to food banks is below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off. They must also spend a very high proportion of their income on shelter and utilities (65 per cent). In addition, the household population is particularly young, with the median age much lower than the provincial average (28.7 years vs. 38.2 years). Finally, it is clear that food banks are a temporary support for the majority of persons seeking support: 70 per cent of food bank clients have accessed the service for two years or less." Not surprisingly, families with children are particularly hard-hit, as are people with disabilities and chronic health problems. "In one in four households turning to food banks (25.1 per cent), children regularly do not eat breakfast once or more per week," wrote Spence. "In a larger number of households (33.4 per cent), at least one member regularly misses three or more meals per week, or one day worth of food, due to lack of money. Unfortunately, the food that is consumed does not meet basic nutritional needs. In 63 per cent of households turning to food banks, members do not consume the recommended daily servings of milk and milk alternatives. An even higher proportion of members of households turning to food banks (72.4 per cent) do not consume the required servings of fruits and vegetables. "In 44.5 per cent of households turning to food banks, at least one member has a chronic health condition, including diabetes, asthma or severe allergies, heart condition or disease, kidney condition or disease, cancer, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, HIV/AIDS, or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome," ence. "Over 55 per cent of households have some form of supplementary health or dental benefits provided by their employer or the provincial government. In more than half (51.1 per cent) of households turning to food banks, at least one member has gone without necessary health care (vision care, dental care, medical care, or pharma-care) because of the cost." Article ID# 2206012 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091216/7f74f03f/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 16 12:35:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 16 12:40:29 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Native's death falls between justice cracks: Toronto Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091216123547.038b8960@ncf.ca> "...A so-called "survivor" of the residential school system, born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder..." http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mark_bonokoski/2009/12/04/12033331-sun.html Toronto Sun News News Columnists / Mark Bonokoski Native's death falls between justice cracks By MARK BONOKOSKI Last Updated: 4th December 2009, 8:23am On the list of upcoming inquests posted at the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario is one that has been locked in freeze-frame for almost 18 months. "Blackwind, Martin," it reads. "Postponed." Once scheduled for June of last year, the inquest into Martin Blackwind's in-custody death at the Warkworth Correctional Centre back in 2006 was suddenly taken off the docket when federal prison ombudsman Howard Sapers issued a scathing report on Blackwind's death -- although Blackwind was not identified -- and lambasted the correctional system for falling short of its mandate for preserving life, as well as systemic discrimination when it come to aboriginal inmates. That report, as documented here in last December's 15-part Red Road series on the urban aboriginal, effectively threw the inquest into lockdown. A new date for Martin Blackwind's mandatory death-in-custody inquest, however, has still not been set. Two weeks ago, a spokesman for the coroner's office indicated a press announcement regarding a new date for that inquest would be released within days. But it has yet to happen, nor has the continued delay ever been explained. There is no question Martin Blackwind's self-inflicted demise would elicit little or no sympathy, despite Sapers stating that "his death can only be described as tragic." If anyone personified the stereotypical image of the "drunken Indian," this 52-year-old native originally from the Sioux Village Reserve in Portage la Prairie, Man., was that stereotype, and demonstratively more -- a homeless, Listerine-swilling alcoholic since childhood who slept on a hot-air vent in downtown Toronto and who, for the second time in his life, had killed a woman who shared his lifestyle, his addiction and his squalor. A so-called "survivor" of the residential school system, born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, an alcoholic himself at the age of 8, a then- 22-year-old Martin Blackwind killed his first lover back in 1976 -- choking a drunken, 18-year-old Joanne Bohpa to death as she slept. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got 10 years. His probation officer wrote back then that he was "nearly beyond rehabilitation." Then, in 2000, Martin Blackwind pleaded guilty to the manslaughter death of 35-year-old Kathleen Hart, his equally homeless companion who he routinely brutalized during their tumultuous nine-year relationship. Martin Blackwind, court was told, had clubbed her to death with a piece of scaffolding as she slept, and was later picked up by police after a pedestrian noticed him loading Kathleen Hart's body into a trolley cart, his breath reeking of cheap booze and mouthwash. His mugshot tells his story, both in years and in miles. Martin Blackwind didn't like himself much either. On three documented occasions, in fact, he attempted suicide. On the fourth, six years into his sentence, guards at Warkworth found themselves being accused by the federal prison ombudsman of letting it happen -- their penalty, when all said and done, some 10 to 20 days in docked pay. When Martin Blackwind wound up dying in custody from a self-inficted shank wound -- his history dark, sordid, suicidal and murderous -- Corrections Canada issued a news release that seemed almost clinical in its portrayal of a textbook response. It told of how guards responded to an emergency cell alarm at 2:40 a.m. back on Oct. 3, 2006, how Martin Blackwind was discovered with "potentially life-threatening injuries," and how an ambulance was called "immediately." All this has been disputed in Sapers' report. When paramedics finally arrived at the rural prison 30 minutes after the prison alarm went off, they found Blackwind alone on the floor of his cell, unconscious and not breathing, and his mattress soaked in blood. Before he was hauled off to Campbellford Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead officially, it is alleged those four veteran jail guards did only one thing. They shackled the dead man in leg irons. Earlier this year, Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) released its annual performance report, later approved by federal Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, in which some disturbing statistics were successfully buried enough in government-speak that no media picked up on it. Under its custody program, which relates to the "provision of reasonable, safe, secure and humane custody of inmates," CSC admits it "did not meet the expected target" of reducing inmate deaths in federal prisons. What it does not highlight, however, is the fact that inmate deaths other than by natural cause rose 70% last year -- from 10 to 17 -- and that at least 12 of those deaths were attributed to suicide. "It's shocking," said Sapers. "In spite of its focus to preserve life, it has a 70% increase in inmate death. "And without any attempt to explain why." MARK.BONOKOSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA OR 416-947-2445 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091216/01ccfd09/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 16 12:36:44 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 16 12:40:33 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] U of S researcher leads brain study Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091216123636.038b8fc8@ncf.ca> [another article on this important study] U of S researcher leads brain study Tricia Hrycan. Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alta.: Dec 11, 2009. pg. A.19 University of Saskatchewan researcher Nazeem Muhajarine has been selected to lead a $19.5-million, nationwide study into childhood brain disease. The NeuroDeveNet project will focus initially on autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. "What we really hope to do...is to understand the scientific basis of the three conditions that are relatively common among children in their early years that have huge consequences not only to them but to their families as well," said Muhajarine who is with the university's School of Medicine. The project is funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence and is based at the University of British Columbia. It will focus on ways to identify, treat and prevent brain disorders in children. "We want to diagnose these children early and help them cope and function better. These are conditions that have an impact basically on the rest of their lives, not just for a few years," he said. Credit: Tricia Hrycan; Canwest News Service; Saskatoon StarPhoenix -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091216/e6c12211/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 12:50:14 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 19:34:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Health & Wellbeing in Children, Youth, & Adults with Developmental Disabilities Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218124919.04088db8@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 21:42:23 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 21:46:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Aussie senator praises Maple Ridge FASD centre Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218194813.0392d008@ncf.ca> "...Salahub said B.C. is in the forefront of FASD treatment throughout the world. However, Canadian liquor producers still do not have to put FASD warning labels on their products...." http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/mapleridgenews/news/79577572.html Maple Ridge News News Aussie senator praises Maple Ridge FASD centre Text By Phil Melnychuk - Maple Ridge News Published: December 17, 2009 4:00 PM Updated: December 17, 2009 4:51 PM Experts from Maple Ridge?s Asante Centre will share their expertise in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder with some of their clinical counterparts Down Under. Whether the Aussies come north or the Canucks travel there hasn?t been finalized but Nigel Scullion, who represents the country?s Northern Territory in the Australian Senate, wants to broaden the knowledge about the condition in his country. He dropped by the Asante Centre for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Thursday. ?You?re far in front of where our country is and there are lessons to be learned nationally and at the local level,? said Scullion, after a morning briefing where he learned about diagnosing, treating and supporting the families of those with FASD. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder relates to the full range of disorders and effects that can occur in a person whose mother drank during pregnancy. Scullion represents the northern part of his country which faces similar issues to Canada?s and B.C.?s north ? isolation, alcoholism and poverty. But where alcoholism and its related issues used to be prevalent in lower socio-economic sectors, ?now it?s in the mainstream community.? There?s still a low level of recognition of FASD in his country, he points out. That?s why the issue has to be addressed and awareness increased. Spending money on public education, such as putting notices in pubs and washrooms can have an impact and is an investment in youth, Scullion said. ?I think the one thing is the importance of raising the profile of FASD in the country. That?s the one thing you can do because everything else will follow. The fact is, there?s no safe level of alcohol,? while pregnant. Asante Centre executive-director Audrey Salahub said FASD involves a broad range of issues, such as the family, economic factors, education levels and beliefs about alcohol. But awareness is growing. Teachers now can more easily recognize the condition. She said 20 or 30 years ago, there were more cases of severe FASD. Salahub said B.C. is in the forefront of FASD treatment throughout the world. However, Canadian liquor producers still do not have to put FASD warning labels on their products. Some Canadian-made alcohol products have to have their labels changed to include those warnings when they export to the U.S. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/40dffb74/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 21:50:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 21:52:07 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Russia State Will Require Labels on Alcohol Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218194837.0392d008@ncf.ca> "... Currently, hard liquor labels say in fine print that, ?Alcohol is not for children and teenagers up to age 18, pregnant and nursing women..." http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/state-will-require-labels-on-alcohol/396368.html The Moscow Times Business State Will Require Labels on Alcohol 18 December 2009 By Anatoly Medetsky Labels on beer, wine and liquor will soon warn potential buyers in large print about the dangers of imbibing in a further blow to the industry?s sales as part of President Dmitry Medvedev?s drive for healthier lifestyles, the government said Thursday. Officials will also weigh the pros and cons of creating a state-run monopoly on the $52 billion market in a report that will be submitted to the president in the first quarter of next year, according to a set of measures released Thursday. The measures also require more sophisticated excise stamps on bottles and ban retail sales in certain locations. If approved, they will likely affect U.S. and European imports, which are estimated to account for 10 percent of the market, and foreign brewers operating in the country, such as Carlsberg. The restrictions, which have been discussed throughout this year, would follow the tripling of excise duties on beer slated to start next month. The State Duma voted to raise the duties after Medvedev lashed out at the ?colossal? alcohol consumption rates earlier this year. Government agencies must assemble a set of standards for alcoholic beverages, including beer, and submit them to the Cabinet in the first quarter of next year, according to a list of measures that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed Monday. Under the standards, warnings about alcohol?s harmful effects must take up 20 percent of the size of the label, Interfax reported. Currently, hard liquor labels say in fine print that, ?Alcohol is not for children and teenagers up to age 18, pregnant and nursing women, or for those with diseases of the central nervous system, kidneys, liver and other digestive organs.? It was unclear Thursday whether the wording would change under the new standards. Beer bottles currently carry no health warning. A spokeswoman for the country?s largest brewer Baltika, part of Denmark-based Carlsberg Group, declined to appraise the potential effects of the government?s labeling proposal. ?The measure is still at the formulation stage and much may change in the process of discussions,? the spokeswoman, Tatyana Antonchik, said by e-mail from St. Petersburg. A market expert dismissed the possibility that larger warnings on alcohol labels could affect the industry?s sales. ?People buy alcohol and tobacco to enjoy it, regardless of the drawings on them,? said Vadim Drobiz, director of the Center for Research of Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets. ?Let it be 30 percent ? it won?t scare anyone away.? Higher excise duties appear to be making a difference. Carlsberg, the world?s fourth-largest brewer, on Thursday raised its full-year operating profit forecast by 3 percent to $1.8 billion after Russian distributors increased inventory ahead of the jump in beer excise duty. The tax increase is causing Russian distributors to bring forward purchases, though it will have the opposite effect on sales in the first quarter of 2010, it said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/1ad95ad1/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:04:45 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Women more likely to suffer from alcohol Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220434.03c49ac0@ncf.ca> "...If pregnant, no level of alcohol is safe...." http://www.squamishchief.com/article/20091002/SQUAMISH0304/310029957/-1/squamish/women-more-likely-to-suffer-from-alcohol The Chief Squamish, British Columbia Columnists Women more likely to suffer from alcohol October 2,2009 Dr. Paul Martiquet Public Health People drink alcohol for a variety of reasons, ranging from a glass of wine with dinner or an occasional social drink with friends to heavy consumption because of addiction or dependence. At one end of the scale, alcohol can be pleasant and innocuous; at the other end, it can be deadly. Alcohol affects women differently than it does men. First off, its effects are stronger for women than men, and women who drink too much are more likely to suffer from significant alcohol problems. In addition, women with alcohol problems have higher death rates from suicide, accidents and other health related issues. A woman who chooses to consume alcohol should do so with an eye to limiting the potential risk. Low risk drinking means consuming no more than three drinks in a day and 10 or less in a week. It means being alcohol free at least one or two days a week. Heavy drinking, although contentious to define, can be seriously detrimental to a woman?s health. Indeed, alcohol abuse and alcoholism are more likely to damage a woman?s health, even if she has been drinking less or for a shorter period than a man. Women are more likely to develop liver disease and to die from cirrhosis. They are more likely to experience alcohol-induced brain damage. Women who drink to excess also face an increased risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. Osteoporosis is also more likely among this group. In addition to these health concerns, women can more rapidly become dependent or addicted to alcohol than men, and with less consumption. The health effects are also made worse when consuming alcohol in combination with smoking or other substances, even prescription drugs. Heavy drinking also increases a woman?s risk of becoming a victim of violence and sexual assault. Even low-risk drinking affects women differently from men, including at lower levels of consumption. Because women have less water in their bloodstream, alcohol is less diluted, and because they have more adipose (fatty) tissue, absorption is slowed. Women also have lower levels of enzymes needed to metabolize alcohol. All this leads to increasing the effects of alcohol. Pregnancy might be the most significant deterrent to consuming alcohol for women ? at least it should be. If likely to become pregnant, a woman should consume very carefully, and certainly to follow the low-risk guidelines. If pregnant, no level of alcohol is safe. Alcohol can lead to a baby with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), miscarriage or stillbirth, low birth weight or premature birth. When breastfeeding, it is best not to drink as alcohol in the breast milk can affect the baby. Women are not the same as men, and their bodies do not handle alcohol in the same way, either. If you are going to consume alcohol, consider these differences and their implications. Dr. Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for the Sea to Sky. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/35780ca9/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:05:11 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:16 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD in Billings Gazette Oct. 2009 Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220501.03c49978@ncf.ca> 4 articles on FASD in Billings Gazette Oct. 10-11, 2009 http://billingsgazette.com/topic/?q=fetal%20alcohol%20spectrum%20disorder&t=&l=25&d=&d1=&d2=&f=html&s=&sd=asc Billings Gazette Billings, Montata Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder sufferers need help making choices Saturday, October 10, 2009 11:30 pm Mother feels responsibility, guilt for son's struggles, criminal record Saturday, October 10, 2009 11:30 pm Many with FASD suffer for years before being diagnosed Saturday, October 10, 2009 11:55 pm Fetal alcohol disorders create lifelong problems Sunday, October 11, 2009 12:15 am [Photo] Deb Watson Deb Watson holds a photo of her son, James, who has been diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and is in jail. [Photo] Mark McManus Mark McManus and his wife, Amy, sit in their backyard recently. Mark was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder about 8 years ago after struggling with new tasks at work. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/296e8f0a/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:05:26 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:18 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Inmate not guilty in fetal alcohol defects case: Wisconsin Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220516.03c49830@ncf.ca> [Tyler Mills has phoned collect from prison to some of us who work in FASD. Last year he asked me to find him a program for when he gets released.]ER http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_75c9b91a-c64b-11de-877c-001cc4c03286.html The Cap Times Madison, Wisconsin Inmate not guilty in fetal alcohol defects case By STEVEN ELBOW The Capital Times selbow@madison.com Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2009 7:45 am [Photo] Tyler Mills in court. BARABOO NEWS REPUBLIC Tyler Mills finally got what he wanted: a mental defect that carries some weight in court. The 30-year-old state prison inmate last week was found not guilty of a crime because of defects caused by his exposure to alcohol when still in the womb. Experts who track court cases involving fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) say it's the first time in Wisconsin a defendant has been found to be not guilty because of the array of physical and mental defects caused by alcohol use by pregnant women. And some think it could open the door to a more enlightened approach to dealing with criminal defendants suffering the effects of the disorder. Todd Winstrom, formerly an attorney for Disability Rights Wisconsin, the state-appointed advocacy group for disabled individuals, says the case sets an important precedent. "Fetal alcohol has actually finally achieved some legal recognition in Wisconsin as a condition that could lead someone to be found not guilty by reason of insanity," says Winstrom, who for years tried to get jails to provide Mills with the psychological and medical treatment he needed. "The hope that this gives me is that the system now will respond to Tyler and hopefully to others like him with an approach that's grounded more in an understanding of the disorder and some attempt to provide treatment and intervention rather than corrections and punishment." For Mills, its a hard-won personal victory that comes after years of disappointment. "I think it was my stubbornness that paid off," he says. In early 2008, Mills was being passed from jail to jail in counties where he had committed a string of petty financial crimes, mostly stealing credit cards. He says a man he met in a federal corrections halfway house led him on the crime spree. But the charge that landed him his current seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence was child enticement. The charge stemmed from Mills' attempt to meet up with a 14-year-old girl he met on the Internet, whom he later discovered was a police officer conducting an Internet sting operation. An Eau Claire County jury in that case found that while his fetal alcohol defects constituted a mental disease, they didn't cause him to commit the crime. Last week Mills appeared in Pierce County court to answer to two charges of identity theft, both for stealing ID cards. In a deal struck between his attorney and prosecutors he agreed to plead guilty to both charges. But the district attorney agreed to stipulate that on one charge he was not guilty by reason of mental defect. The judge ordered three years of commitment by the state Department of Health Services to be carried out concurrently with his current sentence, which will likely mean he will go to a mental hospital. He's currently appealing his Eau Claire County conviction, but if he fails he will have to spend another two years in prison to finish off his sentence in that case in addition to his mental commitment. In itself, Tyler Mill's plea hearing was an insignificant court event, one of thousands of plea deals reached every year in Wisconsin courts. But for defendants with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which some estimate make up thousands of Wisconsin prison inmates, and their advocates, it's a ray of hope. The resolution would have had more impact as a precedent if it had been decided by a judge or a jury, rather than being the result of an agreement between attorneys. "It would have been better had it been on record in terms of a ruling," says Natalie Novick Brown, a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington's Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit. But she says that because a judge endorsed the defense argument that Mills was not guilty because of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, "We still regard it as a foot in the door." Novick Brown says recent years have seen an increased volume of case law dealing with fetal alcohol issues, mostly death row cases such as a recent Nevada case where the perpetrator was spared the death penalty. One case involving a Louisiana death row inmate was even considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court eventually denied review. "The fact that there is growing awareness in the legal system is positive," says Novick Brown, who spends much of her time supporting the cases of criminal defendants with FASD and who has testified on behalf of Mills during his trial. The resolution of Mills' case, she says, "is just another indication that people are paying attention to FASD as a legal argument." But the attorney who struck the deal on Mills' behalf, Liesl Nelson of Hudson, questions the value of the case as a precedent. "I don't know that it necessarily throws the door open for the next guy that comes along," she says. But Nelson praised Pierce County District Attorney John O'Boyle, who didn't return a phone call seeking comment, for going along with the agreement. "I really respect a prosecutor who finally looks at this and goes, 'Let's do the smart thing here,'" she says. "I really give him a lot of points for that because nobody else has been able to do that yet, to say, 'Let's try smarter, not harder.'" A Capital Times story in May 2008 chronicled Mills' odyssey through the criminal justice system at a time when his appalling behavior in jails usually got him thrown into solitary confinement, which typically inspired even worse behavior. He infuriated prison officials by creating scenes, attempting suicide, spreading food and feces on the wall of his cell. He has a compulsion for eating objects like tooth brushes, razor blades and pencils, and on at least one occasion jail officials refused to provide medical treatment for complications from objects lodged in his stomach. Mills had been facing more than 100 years in possible prison time mostly for petty financial crimes. Most of those cases have been resolved, many of them dismissed because of the time and expense it would have taken to prosecute them. Only the Pierce County case remained. "It was the last chance he had to persuade someone that his fetal alcohol was an important factor," says Nelson, his attorney. "That was a huge moment for him, to have somebody acknowledge that." It is still unclear when Mills' mental commitment would start. He was taken from Pierce County to the Wisconsin Resource Center, the Department of Corrections program facility where he spent the last year. The center gives Mills a job, puts him in classes and keeps him busy every minute of the day, providing a rigid daily structure that is the only way many with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can function. Most experts consider solitary confinement to be one of the worst possible punishments, but one Mills is all too familiar with. As his Pierce County case wound down, the Department of Corrections was on the verge of sending Mills back to the general prison population, where if his past is any guide he would undoubtedly act out, and once again find himself alone, staring at the wall of a cell. Nelson says after the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health Services hashes out the details, they'll likely send Mills to a mental treatment facility. The Corrections Department would be crazy to want him, she says. Placing him back in prison where there are no resources to deal with his behavior problems would be punishment not only to Mills, but to corrections personnel as well. "They just don't have the resources to deal with him." Posted in Crime_and_courts on Sunday, November 1, 2009 7:45 am Updated: 7:16 am. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/7468b808/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:05:41 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] More Than Genes II: Why Is the Fetus So Vulnerable to the Environment? Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220532.03c496e8@ncf.ca> http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/more-genes/200911/more-genes-ii-why-is-the-fetus-so-vulnerable-the-environment Psychology Today Blogs More Than Genes What science can tell us. by Dan Agin [Photo] Dan Agin is Emeritus Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Chicago. November 2, 2009, Child Development More Than Genes II: Why Is the Fetus So Vulnerable to the Environment? Nine months of vulnerability Here's a young woman named Kate at a party with her husband on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. She's twenty-five years old, a teacher happily married to an attorney, and she wants children. It's someone's birthday party, a happy occasion, and Kate has been sipping vodka tonics one after the other and enjoying herself. Although she doesn't know it yet, Kate is pregnant. The embryo is just beginning the second week of gestation. In 35 or 36 weeks she'll have a baby boy, and soon after birth the baby will have physical problems, mental problems, and an unpredictable future. Some women can do heavy drinking during early pregnancy and nothing much happens to the child they carry. Kate isn't one of those women. The embryo in her uterus is vulnerable to a sudden increase in blood alcohol. Or maybe Kate's body detoxifies alcohol too slowly. We don't know the mechanisms for individual vulnerabilities. Kate's child, the child she yearns to have, will be diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, including a related cardiac defect and mental deficits. The placenta is the organ that acts as the interface between the mother and the developing embryo or fetus. Although the placenta acts as a filter and detoxifying system, its efficiency differs from one woman to the next and we don't yet understand the details of the differences. For the developing embryo, ethyl alcohol (ethanol, the alcohol we drink), usually passes through the placenta intact. Ethanol is an environmental toxic chemical--with embryo damage caused not by air pollution, water pollution, or food pollution, but by a woman aware or not yet aware that she's pregnant, for example, a woman drinking too much at an innocent birthday party. Yes, it's insidious, and it's unfortunate that we started being serious about this problem only a few decades ago. Let's consider wine. I like wine, especially Italian wine, maybe because I once lived in Italy. Wine is important in Italy, and the custom in rural towns and villages is to drink moderate amounts of wine with meals every day. Binge drinking is rare, except among the young and in cities. But binge drinking is not the only way alcohol can be dangerous for an embryo or fetus. One of the oldest parts of Italy is Rome and the area around Rome, the region called Lazio. In the region of Lazio 62 percent of women drink alcohol prior to pregnancy and 53 percent during pregnancy. Twelve percent of pregnant women in Lazio drink 7 or more drinks a week. Some Italian women who ordinarily don't drink regularly start drinking during pregnancy because of a popular belief in Italy that moderate alcohol has benevolent effects during pregnancy. So is it harmful to the fetus? Yes, it's harmful to the fetus. Currently, 3.5 percent of the children in Lazio have the markers of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). That's the highest prevalence of FASD in the Western world and more than 3 times the prevalence in the United States. Prenatal developmental damage by alcohol is an example of the high vulnerability of the embryo and fetus to chemical impacts. Toxicologists estimate that during the nine months of gestation, the developing fetus is about 100 times more vulnerable to environmental impacts than children or adults. There are good biological reasons for this vulnerability, and a look at the reasons helps us understand some important features of development. The human egg cell (ovum) is the largest cell in the body, on average 145 microns in diameter (average human hair width is 100 microns, or 0.1 millimeters), which means the egg cell is visible to the naked eye. The ovum is about 15 times larger than ordinary cells such as skin cells and liver cells, but it's still no larger than a dot, smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. The profound glory of human reproduction, the wonder of wonders, is that under the right circumstances and during about 277 days, this biological dot is capable of turning itself into a 7-pound infant ready to scream at you to look smart and give it some food and attention. Fetal development is a consequence of cascades of biochemical reactions, cascades of gene expression, cellular movements, tissue formation, and organ construction. A cascade is a succession of sequentially interdependent events, each event both triggered by the event preceding it and itself acting as a trigger for the next event. Human development from conception to birth involves many thousands of cascades, sequences of events with specific vulnerabilities at specific times -- and the possibility for several vulnerabilities at any single time. The whole developmental mix of cascades moves forward by both internal triggers and triggering by interactions with the local cellular environment. So the first important cause of prenatal vulnerability is complexity: the sheer complexity at many levels of prenatal development means that an enormous number of different and important process points are available for disruptive impacts. Another important cause of prenatal vulnerability is pace, the high rate of cellular proliferation necessary to transform a single microscopic cell (the fertilized ovum) into a six- or seven-pound newborn infant that consists of trillions of cells specialized and arranged to constitute the human body externally and internally -- albeit in the small of the infant. It's estimated that in the human developing prenatal brain and nervous system about 250,000 new neurons are generated each minute at the peak of cell proliferation during gestation. The high rate of cell proliferation means a high rate of metabolism, a high rate of chemical synthesis, a high rate of cellular rearrangements and migrations, a high rate of conversion of maternal nutrients into fetal cells and tissues, and so on. In prenatal development, everything is happening rapidly, and the consequence is that if any specific process has its rate changed up or down by an unscheduled impact with the local environment, the consequence may be anything from a subtle bending of development in one direction or another to a lethal corruption that kills the embryo or fetus. The third major cause of the vulnerability of prenatal development involves size and simple physics. If a small permeable mass--for example, a cluster of cells--is exposed to a chemical, that chemical can reach all parts of the mass quickly by simple random diffusion. With larger masses, the diffusion time to reach all parts increases dramatically. But as late as the 6th week of gestation, the human embryo is still only a quarter of an inch in length, has no developed circulatory system, and any freely permeating chemical that gets into the embryo by any route will quickly diffuse throughout the embryo to impact every embryonic cell. Throughout the embryonic period, until the 10th week of gestation, the situation is not much better. At the 10th week, when we begin to call the developing embryo a "fetus", we're dealing with an embryo/fetus about two inches in length, indeed recognizable as a vaguely human form, but still small enough for simple diffusion to quickly distribute any permeating chemical entity throughout its body. Small size facilitating distribution by simple diffusion is one of the reasons the early weeks of prenatal development are so vulnerable to certain chemical impacts. The other important reason is that the effects of impacts on the early part of development can be multiplied as the cascades of development proceed. For example, there is mounting evidence that a critical window of vulnerability for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder occurs very early--during and shortly after the blastocyst stage--and that the impact of alcohol is on early gene expression in the developing embryo. Given this evidence, the most reasonable assumption is that concentrations of alcohol too low to produce gross morphological disruptions may cause subtle and yet unknown changes in the connections between nerve cells in the developing brain. There is certainly evidence of troubles in cognitive performance of children whose mothers drank only moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy. In my next blog, we'll consider various fetal impacts and mental illness in children and adults. [Parts of the above text are adapted from More Than Genes: What Science Can Tell Us About Toxic Chemicals, Development, and the Risk to Our Children. Author: Dan Agin. Oxford University Press, 2009.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/486d5790/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:05:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:24 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] UA Researcher Receives CDC Grant to Study Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220547.03c495a0@ncf.ca> http://www.evliving.com/2009/11/03/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-grant/ EVliving.com Phoenix, Arizona UA Researcher Receives CDC Grant to Study Fetal Alcohol Syndrome November 3, 2009 ? Published By Editor UA College of Medicine Steele Center Researcher Receives $1.25 Million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Study the Prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome TUCSON, Ariz. ? Pediatric geneticist Christopher Cunniff, MD, a professor in the University of Arizona College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and researcher with the Steele Children?s Research Center, received a five-year $1.25 million surveillance grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in children. The project, named ?Arizona Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Surveillance Network (AZ FASSNET),? will study FAS prevalence in Arizona and Nevada. Arizona was one of three awardees ? the other two were Colorado and Western New York State. ?This work builds on a previous FAS surveillance grant which was awarded to us in Arizona by the CDC from 1997 to 2003,? said Dr. Cunniff. ?We also are building on our surveillance programs in autism spectrum disorders, mental retardation and Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy, which also are funded by the CDC and are ongoing.? FAS is the most severe disorder in the diverse group of structural, developmental and behavioral abnormalities known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) that result from maternal alcohol use during pregnancy. FAS is widely considered the most common preventable cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities in developed countries. The personal burden of FAS may be striking, and affected children and their families often find it difficult to cope with the medical, developmental, adaptive and social effects of this disorder. Estimates of how frequently FAS occurs vary widely among studies in the United States and in other countries. FAS and partial FAS occur in 90 out of 1,000 children in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, while the highest reported frequency in the United States is about 4 children per 1,000 in Alaskan Natives. The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Surveillance Network (FASSNET) previously was funded by the CDC to develop a population-based, multiple source surveillance system for FAS. The methods of the FASSNET surveillance system have been published as well as results from the participating sites. In 2008, the CDC reported results of a planning meeting to determine best practices for population-based surveillance of FAS. ?We will partner with the Nevada State Health Division to obtain a combined surveillance population of almost 140,000 births per year,? said Dr. Cunniff. ?The objective is to integrate FAS surveillance into the existing population-based surveillance programs in each state, which include a program that identifies and reports cases of autism spectrum disorders and mental retardation in Maricopa County; one that conducts surveillance in Arizona for Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy; and the surveillance programs for birth defects in Arizona and Nevada.? ?The goal of this multistate project is to provide case workers with better tools to diagnose FAS sooner. This will result in earlier referrals for treatment that will ultimately improve outcomes for the children suffering the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome,? said Dr. Cunniff. Published on behalf of the University of Arizona The University of Arizona, University Physicians Healthcare and University Medical Center work together to care for patients, educate medical students, train resident-physicians and conduct clinical and basic research. The UA Steele Children?s Research Center and UMC are working together to build Diamond Children?s Medical Center (www.diamondchildrens.org), now under construction and scheduled to open in 2010. Diamond Children?s will be Arizona?s only pediatric inpatient medical center connected to an academic research facility ? the Steele Center (www.steelecenter.arizona.edu). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/14aa5803/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:06:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:26 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] South Africans must go off the booze - ANCYL Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220643.03c49310@ncf.ca> "...The misuse of alcohol during pregnancy has been linked to fetal alcohol syndrome in infants...." http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=149711&sn=Detail Politics Web Party African National Congress Youth League South Africans must go off the booze - ANCYL ANC YL 04 November 2009 Youth League to campaign to have all alcohol advertising banned THE ANC YOUTH LEAGUE CALLS ON THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ABUSE OF DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCES: The African National Congress Youth League re-affirms its position on the complete illegalisation of alcohol advertisements in all media channels, including Television, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines and Billboards. The call for the banning of alcohol advertisements is linked to the Youth League's broader campaign to reduce the consumption and abuse of alcohol, drugs and substances in our communities. We will soon be meeting with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa The abuse of intoxicating substances and alcohol in particular does not only negatively impact the wellbeing of the individuals consuming them, but distorts society and leads to other grave social ills such as crime, rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, poor health, low success rates in education, etc. The ANC 52nd National Conference political report quoted a government scientific survey which read: "Accordingly, in the past five years the areas with the greatest number of violent crimes were identified as those that are poor and economically depressed. These areas, which account for more than 50% of violent crime in South Africa comprise only 169 police station-areas out of 1 136 police station-areas in the country. The socio-economic profile of these areas is similar. There are few recreational facilities. Unemployment is high. There are many dysfunctional families. There are many shebeens and other alcohol outlets and the levels of substance abuse are very high". Further than that, the Medical Research Council's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Council scientifically say that the effects of alcohol dependence include the following: * Alcohol misuse is causally implicated in a range of chronic health problems (e.g. cirrhosis of the liver). However, many of the primary effects of alcohol misuse occur from episodes of acute alcohol intoxication. * Acute alcohol intoxication is associated with increased mortality and morbidity arising from intentional and non-intentional injuries. * Acute alcohol intoxication is also associated with unsafe sexual practices and increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. * Alcohol misuse, combined with poor nutritional status, increases susceptibility to opportunistic diseases by compromising the immune system. * The misuse of alcohol during pregnancy has been linked to fetal alcohol syndrome in infants. * Alcohol misuse also impacts on the criminal justice system, with evidence of associations between drinking at risky levels, committing crime, or being a victim of crime. Against these realities, South Africa cannot continue to celebrate alcohol and normalise it as part of our society. Coupled with the illegalisation of alcohol advertisement, the ANC YL will advocate for the following as decisive interventions to stop the free flow of alcohol in our communities: Call for increased levels of law enforcement on illegal alcohol and drugs traders, including those who sell alcohol to people under the age of 18. Call for greater investment in sporting, arts and recreational activities and facilities in communities and set a programme to attract more young people to partake in these activities. Form partnerships with relevant government departments in the intensification of the campaign against alcohol, drugs and substance abuse. Call for establishment of youth-friendly rehabilitation centres and programmes in communities to revive youth that are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Campaign for a legislative intervention on the number of years young people are eligible to buy alcohol, with a focus of increasing the number of years from 18 to 21. Call for immediate legislation on the illegalisation of Liquor Outlets closer to schools and institutions of higher learning. The ANC Youth League will stop at nothing in ensuring that alcohol consumption in South Africa is radically reduced and all alcohol regulations and laws are properly enforced by our law enforcement agencies. We need a broader coalition of all stakeholders, including Unions, Civil Society formations, Non-governmental organisations, Community based organisations, Churches, Social Clubs and private individuals to join the campaign against alcohol, drugs and substances. The ANC YOUTH LEAGUE CALLS ON THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN BEING PARTNERS TO THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ALCOHOL, DRUGS AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE TO CONTACT THE ANC YOUTH HEAD OFFICE. Statement issued by the ANC Youth League, November 4 2009 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/853ac3d9/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:07:06 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:29 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Shurtleff, daughter talked of her struggles in '06 Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220656.03c49140@ncf.ca> "...common occurrences in a teenager's life. Most might be upset or angry for a couple of days. But most aren't born with fetal alcohol spectrum syndrome...." http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705342070/In-2006-Shurtleff-daughter-talked-of-suicide-struggles.html Deseret News Salt Lake City, Utah Shurtleff, daughter talked of her struggles in '06 By Dennis Romboy Deseret News Published: Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 10:36 a.m. MST [Photo] Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and his daughter Danielle are seen photographed in March 2006 in Murray. In a 2006 Deseret News series about teen suicide, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and his daughter, Danielle, talked about her struggles. At the time, she was 13 years old. Following is an excerpt from the story that appeared in 2006: Teen suicide is an odd issue for an attorney general's time, but Shurtleff has a personal stake in the topic. Her name is Danielle. His adopted daughter deals with several psychological disorders that induce suicidal thoughts. Dressed in black jeans, black skater shoes and a Green Day hoodie, Danielle Shurtleff exudes attitude. Her brown hair falls lazily onto her shoulders. She can be a brawler one minute, a sweetheart the next. But the gleam in her eye suggests more puff than huff. Thirteen-year-old Danielle says she has contemplated suicide for all kinds of reasons: When her parents didn't listen. When her parents took a sibling's side. When her parents thought they understood but didn't. When someone was mean to her. When friends turned their backs on her. When something didn't go right. Those are common occurrences in a teenager's life. Most might be upset or angry for a couple of days. But most aren't born with fetal alcohol spectrum syndrome. They aren't diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and oppositional defiant disorder. Danielle deals with all of those. She goes through periods of inconsolable sadness and uncontrollable rage. Shurtleff held her late one night while she sobbed, "I want to die. I want to die." On another evening, he wrestled a knife away from her during a youth activity at their LDS Church ward. He cut his hand in the process. Danielle has learned to grapple with suicidal thoughts and come out on top. She's learned to defuse the bad thoughts that come fast and hard some days: "Why am I living? What's the point if my life is so bad? Why am I living?" Now she can answer herself. "If I kill myself, I won't be able to ride my dirt bike." "If I kill myself, I'll hurt the two young neighbor kids who look up to me." "If I kill myself, maybe my friends will think suicide is the answer." "Maybe I should wait to see how things come out." A regimen of antidepressants, antipsychotics and ADHD medication keep her stable. Therapy has taught her coping strategies: Stop. Think. Act. Review. She shares some of her new techniques with her dad. Recently, the two were driving together, and Shurtleff was struggling with the complexities of his BlackBerry. He was mad and ready to heave it out the window. "Daddy, stop and think about this," Danielle said. "You have some choices here. ? Dennis Romboy, Lucinda Dillon Kinkead 16 comments -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/4389c4d4/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:07:20 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:32 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] 'Alcohol and pregnancy do not mix, ' Shurtleff says Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220710.03c48ff8@ncf.ca> [Where are our Canadian champions for FASD? There must be some politicians or people in high places with FASD affected family members]ER "...Shurtleff suspended his U.S. Senate campaign Wednesday after disclosing that his daughter Danielle was admitted to a treatment facility to help deal with problems resulting from fetal alcohol spectrum disorders..." http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/705342438/Alcohol-and-pregnancy-do-not-mix-Shurtleff-says.htm Deseret News Salt Lake City, Utah 'Alcohol and pregnancy do not mix,' Shurtleff says Campaign aims to keep expectant moms from drinking By Carrie A. Moore Deseret News Published: Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 10:25 p.m. MST [Photo] Chen Wang, Deseret News Terra Daniel holds her 4-year-old adopted daughter, Briar Daniel, who has fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, as Daniel speaks to the media in Salt Lake City Thursday. Recent studies that show drinking a small amount of wine each day can be healthy don't apply to pregnant women, and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff can tell you all about it. Speaking Thursday at a press conference for a new media campaign, Shurtleff was visibly emotional about the impact alcohol consumed during pregnancy by the birth mother of his adopted daughter has had on the now 17-year-old girl. "Alcohol and pregnancy do not mix," he said through tears. "It's so important that we educate people, especially young women, about that fact." Shurtleff suspended his U.S. Senate campaign Wednesday after disclosing that his daughter Danielle was admitted to a treatment facility to help deal with problems resulting from fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, caused by her birth mother's drinking. "The things we have to do so that she can progress and get well necessitates a substantial amount of time," he said in withdrawing from the Senate race. Shurtleff said Thursday the timing of his announcement wasn't planned to coincide with the new media campaign warning against drinking alcohol during pregnancy. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Utah Department of Health, and Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice collaborated with the Utah Fetal Alcohol Coalition to carry out the campaign. State liquor stores will now have "Alcohol and Pregnancy Don't Mix" cards at every checkout counter, which includes the 1-800-826-9662 toll-free number for the "Baby Your Baby" program where pregnant women can get more information. Mothers who drink alcohol in any amount are putting their babies at risk for both FASD and fetal alcohol syndrome, the symptoms of which always include brain damage leading to learning and behavioral problems. Other serious problems include fetal death, heart defects, facial changes, severe low birth weight, short stature and mental retardation. Those health problems are "100 percent preventable" if women who are pregnant ? or may be without having confirmed it ? will avoid alcohol of any kind in any amount, said Dr. David Sundwall, executive director of the state health department. He said he'd like to see the problem disappear in Utah through educational outreach. Dr. Susan Lewin, University of Utah associate professor of pediatrics, said she has spent much of her career working with children who have FASD. The problem is "under-recognized and under-served," she said, noting that while alcohol is a legal substance, "it causes far more brain damage than all other illicit drugs combined." She said there is no known level of "safe exposure" to alcohol during pregnancy because people's genetic makeup is so individualized. Children with FAS have some identifiable symptoms, she said, but those with FASD often do not. Only about 20 percent of children exposed to alcohol during pregnancy have recognizable facial appearance or birth defects, she said. For the rest, "you can't tell by looking at them, but they have organic brain damage that's lifelong and doesn't respond to systems we have in place." Utah has the highest incidence of autism among children in the nation, she said, and researchers are looking at "what small percentage of those may have FASD." Terra Daniel held her adopted daughter, 4-year-old Briar, and told reporters she will always be grateful to Briar's birth mother for recording "how often she drank during pregnancy," because the family has been able to identify and now deal with Briar's brain damage. "I really feel if she had known the alcohol she was consuming would cause lifelong damage, she wouldn't have done it." While Briar is a happy child who was talking and animated in front of the cameras, "she can't count to three or understand why she shouldn't hit and bite her sister. This was 100 percent preventable." e-mail: carrie@desnews.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/24b81f34/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:07:44 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:34 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Service dog a calming presence for entire family Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220735.03c48eb0@ncf.ca> http://www.ajc.com/news/north-fulton/service-dog-a-calming-188966.html ajc The Atlanta Journal-Constitution North Fulton County News 8:02 p.m. Friday, November 6, 2009 Service dog a calming presence for entire family Chancer trained to deal with child who has fetal alcohol syndrome By Helena Oliviero The Atlanta Journal-Constitution [Photos] Bita Honarvar, bhonarvar@ajc.com Iyal Winokur, 11, hangs out with his service dog Chancer at his Roswell home. Iyal has fetal alcohol syndrome and can have tantrums. Chancer helps to calm him. Morasha Winokur, 11, wrote a book about life with her brother. Both were adopted from Russian orphanages. Iyal Winokur was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome when he was 4. Chancer is believed to be the first dog trained to help a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. The dog nuzzles Iyal Winokur's neck or puts his paw on him when he has a tantrum. Eleven-year-old Morasha Winokur never knows what to expect from her brother, Iyal, when riding the school bus home together. He might give her a hug. Or he might get in her face and yell. What is predictable is this: Once they get to their Roswell home, Iyal will see his dog, Chancer, and settle down. For Morasha and her family, Chancer has made home a little more peaceful for the family and for Iyal, 11, who has fetal alcohol syndrome. Before the dog arrived, Iyal was fidgety and prone to outbursts, often directed at his sister. "He would say my name over and over. Morasha. Morasha. He would sing it. He would yell it," Morasha said. "But now, he is more interested in Chancer." Chancer is believed to be the country's first-ever service dog trained to deal with a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome, which is caused by women who drink alcohol while pregnant. Morasha shares her experience of growing up with Iyal and how life has changed with Chancer in a book she wrote: "My Invisible World: Life with My Brother, His Disability & His Service Dog." The book, which Morasha decided to start writing three years ago, was published by Better Endings New Beginnings and recently hit book stores across metro Atlanta. "I wanted to educate people. I want people to know women shouldn't drink alcohol when they are pregnant," Morasha said. "And I wanted to share our story." She writes of Iyal: "If he wants attention, he is like a big baseball mitt. All the attention goes directly to him and everyone tries to catch his ball and hold on. In fact, he gets so much attention that there are times I feel like no even realizes I am there. This is when my invisible world gets really big, and I feel really small." A diagnosis When Donnie, a TV producer at the time, and Harvey Winokur, a rabbi, met in 1997, they were both in their early 40s and eager to start a family. They got married less than three months after their first date and, after a few months of failed fertility treatments, went to plan B: adoption. Working with an agency that focuses on Russian adoptions, they waited only a few months before they were given a video of Morasha and Iyal, born just two days apart and living in separate orphanages. In the videos, each lasting only about three minutes, Morasha and Iyal, both just more than a year old, appeared malnourished and very small for their age. Donnie and Harvey thought all the babies really needed was a loving home. Once home, Iyal started walking almost immediately. Morasha took a bit more time. Many people mistook the two for twins and for the first two years they seemed like twins. They played with the same toys; they read books in matching rocking chairs. But when Iyal started preschool, his parents noticed troubling behavior. He began to have frequent angry outbursts and tantrums. And then one day a report came home from the preschool: Iyal got on a bike and purposely ran into another child. "I knew that was not right. That was not acceptable," mother Donnie Winokur said. A developmental pediatrician diagnosed Iyal with FAS when he was 4 years old. FAS is considered the extreme end of a spectrum of disorders known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). The group of disorders can range from mild to severe and can include abnormal facial features, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, poor memory and low IQ. Iyal's condition is considered to be in the severe range. "At first, the diagnosis is just words on a paper," said his mother, who is featured in a video about the disorder made by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and posted on its Web site, and is also the executive director of the newly created Georgia chapter of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS). "And there's no substance until you start living with it and you start having different fears and different levels of grieving. And you live your life like you are in constant anticipation of a hurricane." Over time, the age and developmental gap between Morasha and Iyal has widened. Though both are in the sixth grade, Iyal is in special education classes and has a teacher's aide who works with him full time. He reads at about the third-grade level, but his mother worries he might never be able to live independently as an adult. Morasha's worries are more immediate. Her brother's unpredictable behavior is so demanding, she gets left out. "Iyal will get his way," their mother acknowledges. "I tell Morasha to go with it. It's hard for her. It's not fair. Life is not fair. But it's still OK. And everybody deserves to be loved and have a family." Still, the Winokurs were determined to find a way for the whole family to cope with Iyal's disability. So two years ago, Donnie Winokur saw a brochure about service dogs and contacted 4 Paws for Ability. The Ohio-based organization, which trains about 100 dogs a year, mostly for autistic children, had never trained a dog for FAS. But the executive director, Karen Shirk, agreed to give it her best shot. A dog to the rescue The Winokurs sent the trainer video footage of Iyal in full-fledged tantrums, sobbing and thrashing about, and unable to sit still at the kitchen table. After watching the video, Shirk picked Chancer, a golden retriever with deep brown eyes, for Iyal. She believed Chancer's calm demeanor would make him a good fit. "We needed a dog of a larger size and not the kind of dog that would feed off of Iyal's emotions," said Shirk. "A dog that wouldn't be afraid of Iyal's meltdowns and a dog that would go with the flow. And that was Chancer." The Association of Pet Dog Trainers is unaware of any other dogs trained to assist a child with FAS. Shirk said she's already training two more FAS dogs out of requests from parents who heard about Iyal's dog. To train Chancer, Shirk used Iyal's tantrums as "signals" or "commands" for the dog. Chancer was trained to disrupt erratic behavior by "nuzzling" Iyal's neck or putting his paw on Iyal when he had a tantrum. But if Iyal thrashes about violently, Iyal's mother will order Chancer to stay back so he won't get hurt. When Iyal seems jittery or unable to sit still, Chancer will lay his 90-pound body across Iyal's legs to help calm him down. Chancer also gives Iyal lots of sloppy kisses. "Chancer was happy. His brown eyes sent signals of dog happiness. ..." Morasha wrote in her book. Since Chancer joined the family, the outbursts have declined, as well as the intensity. Iyal started opening up about his feelings and his illness. "He would say: 'Why does God make me break things?' And he said, 'Why did my birth mother drink alcohol?' " Donnie Winokur said. And then one day, he showed concern for Chancer. "Did Chancer's mommy drink alcohol when Chancer was in her tummy?" he asked his mother. A calm family On a recent afternoon, Morasha and Iyal eat a bowl of cereal after arriving home on the school bus. Iyal fusses because he wants chocolate, but he settles on Reese's Puffs cereal. After they finish the snack, Morasha calls a friend. Iyal goes directly to Chancer. Chancer licks Iyal's face. Iyal hugs his dog. "Happy, you make me happy," Iyal says to his dog. Iyal then retreats to a room downstairs to play video games. With Chancer at his feet, Iyal seems content. And so does the entire family. "Chancer has softened the hard edges," said Donnie Winokur. "We needed another character in the play. ... And that was Chancer." Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy. FASDs refers to conditions that can range from mild to severe and can include abnormal facial features, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, poor memory and low IQ. It is estimated that fetal alcohol syndrome, a severe form of a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, occurs in about 1 of every 1,000 births. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports the number of all alcohol-related conditions resulting from prenatal exposure of alcohol could be as high as 1 in every 100 live births. A woman who drinks any alcohol throughout the pregnancy is at risk since there is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink while pregnant, but larger amounts of alcohol and binge drinking are more harmful than drinking smaller amounts. To see the CDC video of Iyal's story, go to www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/videos/index.html Source: CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and American Academy of Pediatrics. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/9a3f409e/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:07:59 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:37 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] 'God's the one who put him in my lap' Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220750.03c48d68@ncf.ca> http://www.brainerddispatch.com/stories/111009/new_20091110005.shtml Brainerd Dispatch Brainerd, Minnesota News Tuesday, November 10, 2009 'God's the one who put him in my lap' Adoption By JODIE TWEED Staff Writer Teri Jones, a southeast Brainerd single mom, felt she had to adopt Kailer because he simply needed her. But what she later discovered was that she needed him, too. [Photo] Kailer Jones, who turned 5 on Nov. 1, has fetal alcohol syndrome but his adopted mother, Teri, believes her son can overcome many of his behavioral challenges through hard work and love. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey "I didn't mean for this to happen, but it was serendipity," Jones said of adopting her son, Kailer, whom she's raised since he was 5 months old. He turned 5 on Nov. 1. "God's the one who put him in my lap and said 'Go for it.'" Jones, who also has a 16-year-old biological son named Loren, had been caring for children in her home when she was asked to take care of a friend's grandson on a temporary basis. Two months later, she became his foster parent. While Jones fell in love with the beautiful biracial infant, she was scared, too. Could she, as a single mom with limited means, raise another child? Well-meaning friends and family members tried to talk her out of it. "I thought how can I do this, but how can I not?" she said. Crow Wing County Social Services attempted to reunify Kailer with his biological mother, but the situation did not work out and Jones, who had become his foster parent, formally adopted him when he was 2. While Kailer was developmentally delayed when he arrived in her care, it wasn't until he was 3 when he was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, a condition caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol. It's difficult for Kailer to understand boundaries and he can act out impulsively in destructive and aggressive ways. [Photo] Teri Jones paused with her sons, Loren, 16, and Kailer, 5, outside their southeast Brainerd home. Jones adopted Kailer when he was 2. Kailer has been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and Jones has made it her mission to educate people about the devastating effects of the disorder, which is caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey But Jones herself understands what it's like to live with challenges and is determined to help Kailer overcome his. Jones has cerebral palsy and throughout her life people have misjudged or stereotyped her because of her physical disability. "I don't want him to be identified by his challenges," Jones said of Kailer. "Kailer makes you see the funny side of life. I think everything he has can be overcome and I want that to happen. He can do it, and we're getting there. We're making strides." Kailer may have behavioral problems, but he's also affectionate and smart. Kailer easily memorizes his favorite songs, loves to sing and has been riding a bicycle without training wheels since he was 4. He's been attending Early Childhood Family Education classes for the past three years and has received help through the Paul Bunyan Cooperative. Kailer recently has been assigned a part-time personal care attendant who gives him one-on-one support. Jones has relied on the Brainerd Lakes Adoption Support Group for personal support, as a connection with other adoptive parents struggling with similar issues. "There's hope but it's a lot of work," Jones said. While Jones has seen the destructiveness fetal alcohol syndrome causes in young lives, she's recently joined the Brainerd Chapter of Healthy Brains for Children, a nonprofit organization designed to educate people about FAS and to work to prevent it. The chapter hosted its first meeting Oct. 20 at the Brainerd Public Library and will meet again at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at Park Methodist Church in Brainerd. The chapter is open to anyone who wishes to work to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome in the community. "People don't like to talk about FAS because you did this to a child," Jones said. "FAS is totally preventable. This can be stopped. It's become a passion of mine." Jones said having Kailer as her son has made her a more confident person. She, Loren and Kailer are a team. She has had a few situations where she and Kailer have experienced discrimination; she because of her cerebral palsy and he because of his skin color and his behavioral issues. However, she tries to focus on the positive. "I know in my heart I have no shame in what I'm doing here," said Jones. "I now feel I can hold my head up. If you knew our story you would know I'm a good person and he's a beautiful boy." For more information about Healthy Brains for Children, visit the Web site, healthybrainsforchildren.org. The executive director and founder of the nonprofit organization is Jody Crowe, a former Brainerd lakes area man who from 1993 to 2002 served as principal at Nay Ah Shing School in Onamia. JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/575e48e3/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:08:28 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:40 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Lawmakers reverse proposed repeal of alcohol warning-sign requirement: South Dakota Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220819.03c48ad8@ncf.ca> http://m.mitchellrepublic.com/article.cfm?id=38679&tag=Politics The Daily Republic Mitchell, South Dakota Politics Lawmakers reverse proposed repeal of alcohol warning-sign requirement Bob Mercer, Republic Capitol Bureau Published: November 17, 2009 7:51:27 AM CST PIERRE ? The Legislature?s Executive Board decided Monday that a panel of lawmakers studying alcohol control and licensing laws went too far. The study committee had recommended repealing South Dakota?s law requiring bars, stores and other alcohol sellers to post signs warning pregnant women about the dangers of drinking alcohol. That didn?t sit well with some members of the Executive Board, which is the Legislature?s administrative body outside the nine months of the legislative session. A majority of the Executive Board concluded Monday that the study committee exceeded the scope of the study that was originally authorized by the Executive Board. The Executive Board members consequently voted 12-2 to remove the warning-sign legislation from the study committee?s package of proposals and allow the rest to be offered for consideration by the full Legislature when the 2010 session opens in January. Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, said individual legislators could still propose repealing the warning-sign law. She chairs the Executive Board. Other legislators sparred Monday over the effectiveness and necessity of the signs. Rep. Jim Putnam, R-Armour, said the warning signs are ?a very, very small step.? ?It notifies people. If they take that advice, I don?t know,? Putnam said. He noted cigarette packs have warnings on them, too. Rep. Chuck Turbiville, R-Deadwood, served on the alcohol study committee. He said he heard afterward from several people who questioned the proposed repeal. He said he doesn?t think the legislation should go forward, and he proposed removing the repeal bill from the committee?s package. Rep. Larry Tidemann, R-Brookings, asked what the cost savings might be by repealing the sign in comparison to the costs of one child born with health problems from fetal alcohol syndrome. Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, said he arrested many drunken women who were pregnant while he was a police chief. He said they went to an over-crowded and underfunded detoxification center, and there was a waiting line for treatment services. He called the warning signs ?a feel-good statute? that isn?t enforced. Tieszen said keeping the sign law provides legislators with an excuse to vote against tax increases on alcoholic beverages that could be used to pay for services and help county governments financially. ?The real solutions to this problem are very expensive,? he said. State law currently requires businesses that sell alcohol to prominently display the pregnancy warning signs. The law directs the state Department of Human Services to provide the signs, which measure nine inches by 12 inches and carry a warning from the state secretary of health. The warning-sign law was originally passed in 1986, when it was approved overwhelmingly on votes of 62-5 in the House of Representatives and 32-0 in the Senate. The main sponsors of the law that year were Rep. Mary Vanderlinde, D-Sioux Falls, and Sen. Ed Glassgow, R-Rapid City. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/91f60dcf/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:08:43 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:46 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Examining mathematical abilities in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220834.03c48990@ncf.ca> http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/ace-ema111209.php EurekAlert! Public release date: 19-Nov-200 Contact: Catherine Lebel, B.Sc. catherine.lebel@ualberta.ca 780-492-8098 University of Alberta Claire D. Coles, Ph.D. ccoles@emory.edu 404-712-9814 Emory University School of Medicine Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research Examining mathematical abilities in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder * Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits. * Mathematical ability seems particularly damaged in children with FASD. * A new study supports the importance of the left parietal area for mathematical abilities in children with FASD. Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits, but mathematical ability seems particularly damaged. Little is known about the brain structures related to mathematical deficits in children with FASD. A new study that used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the relationship between mathematical skills and brain white matter structure in children with FASD supports the importance of the left parietal area for mathematical tasks. Results will be published in the February 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. "Children with FASD have learning difficulties with reading, memory, executive functioning, attention, and mathematics," said Christian Beaulieu, associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Alberta and senior author for the study. "Specific deficits in mathematics exist even when their global deficits are taken into account," added Claire D. Coles, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. "Children with FASD are similar in their presentation to children with nonverbal learning disabilities, which are sometimes associated with visual/spatial deficits and math deficits; one of the factors thought to produce these effects is deficits in white matter integrity." "From studies of brain function, we know that the parietal brain regions are involved in mathematics and number tasks," said Catherine Lebel, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering who is also corresponding author for the study. "We knew that mathematics was a key deficit in FASD and decided to examine which brain structures were related to these mathematical deficits." The researchers used DTI to scan 21 children (12 boys, 9 girls), five to 13 years of age, who had been diagnosed with FASD in an earlier study; they also used a cognitive assessment to establish the children's mathematical abilities. "We found that four different brain areas show correlations between structure and mathematical ability in children with FASD," said Lebel. "Two of these regions in the left parietal area are very similar to previous findings in healthy children and in a rare genetic disorder, suggesting that these regions are key areas for math across diverse populations. The two other regions ? the cerebellum and the brainstem ? might be unique to children with FASD in terms of math-structure relationships." "The parietal lobes are what is referred to as the 'association' cortex because it is clear that it is in these areas that a great deal of the higher level 'thinking' occurs, in which different aspects of sensory processing ? such as visual and auditory information ? as well as cognitive activities are 'associated,'" said Coles. "Math processing relies on a number of skills, visual/spatial skills, executive functioning (which rely on the frontal lobes), and probably the corpus callosum which allows integration of information in the two hemispheres. Previous research has also shown that 'math' processing is associated with certain parts of the parietal lobes. However, different areas seem to be related to different processes, like addition and subtraction, and more difficult kinds of math involve more areas, which are interrelated in 'networks.'" "Our findings demonstrate a link between brain structure and cognition that provides insight into how the FASD brain works," said Lebel, "and also help understand mathematical processing in a larger population because of the similarities to previous studies. Ultimately, a better understanding of the underlying cause of the various cognitive deficits in FASD may lead to better treatment and improved quality of life." ### Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Brain Microstructure is Related to Math Ability in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder," were: Carmen Rasmussen and Katy Wyper of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta; and Gail Andrew of the FASD Clinic at Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, both in Edmonton. The study was funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence ?Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. . This release is supported by the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network at http://www.ATTCnetwork.org. Add'l contact: Christian Beaulieu, Ph.D. christian.beaulieu@ualberta.ca 780.492.0908 University of Alberta -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/6465feeb/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Fri Dec 18 22:09:46 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri Dec 18 22:28:49 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091218220937.03c485b8@ncf.ca> contact: Christian Beaulieu, Ph.D. christian.beaulieu@ualberta.ca 780.492.0908 University of Alberta http://7thspace.com/headlines/326458/children_with_fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder_fasd_have_a_number_of_cognitive_deficits.html 7th Space Interactive 22 Nov 2009 ... Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits, but mathematical ability seems particularly damaged. Little is known about the brain structures related to mathematical deficits in children with FASD. A new study that used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the relationship between mathematical skills and brain white matter structure in children with FASD supports the importance of the left parietal area for mathematical tasks. Results will be published in the February 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. "Children with FASD have learning difficulties with reading, memory, executive functioning, attention, and mathematics," said Christian Beaulieu, associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Alberta and senior author for the study. "Specific deficits in mathematics exist even when their global deficits are taken into account," added Claire D. Coles, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. "Children with FASD are similar in their presentation to children with nonverbal learning disabilities, which are sometimes associated with visual/spatial deficits and math deficits; one of the factors thought to produce these effects is deficits in white matter integrity." "From studies of brain function, we know that the parietal brain regions are involved in mathematics and number tasks," said Catherine Lebel, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering who is also corresponding author for the study. "We knew that mathematics was a key deficit in FASD and decided to examine which brain structures were related to these mathematical deficits." The researchers used DTI to scan 21 children (12 boys, 9 girls), five to 13 years of age, who had been diagnosed with FASD in an earlier study; they also used a cognitive assessment to establish the children's mathematical abilities. "We found that four different brain areas show correlations between structure and mathematical ability in children with FASD," said Lebel. "Two of these regions in the left parietal area are very similar to previous findings in healthy children and in a rare genetic disorder, suggesting that these regions are key areas for math across diverse populations. The two other regions ? the cerebellum and the brainstem ? might be unique to children with FASD in terms of math-structure relationships." "The parietal lobes are what is referred to as the 'association' cortex because it is clear that it is in these areas that a great deal of the higher level 'thinking' occurs, in which different aspects of sensory processing ? such as visual and auditory information ? as well as cognitive activities are 'associated,'" said Coles. "Math processing relies on a number of skills, visual/spatial skills, executive functioning (which rely on the frontal lobes), and probably the corpus callosum which allows integration of information in the two hemispheres. Previous research has also shown that 'math' processing is associated with certain parts of the parietal lobes. However, different areas seem to be related to different processes, like addition and subtraction, and more difficult kinds of math involve more areas, which are interrelated in 'networks.'" "Our findings demonstrate a link between brain structure and cognition that provides insight into how the FASD brain works," said Lebel, "and also help understand mathematical processing in a larger population because of the similarities to previous studies. Ultimately, a better understanding of the underlying cause of the various cognitive deficits in FASD may lead to better treatment and improved quality of life." ### Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Brain Microstructure is Related to Math Ability in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder," were: Carmen Rasmussen and Katy Wyper of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta; and Gail Andrew of the FASD Clinic at Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, both in Edmonton. The study was funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence ?Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. . This release is supported by the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network at http://www.ATTCnetwork.org. Add'l contact: Christian Beaulieu, Ph.D. christian.beaulieu@ualberta.ca 780.492.0908 University of Alberta -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091218/c02a3223/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sat Dec 19 08:57:32 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sat Dec 19 09:04:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Suspensions on the rise for special-needs students: Ottawa Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091219085724.03dbc450@ncf.ca> [Autism is discussed - no mention of FASD specifically] www.canada.com Ottawa Citizen [starting on the front page] 16 Dec 2009 Ottawa Citizen BY JOANNE LAUCIUS Suspensions on the rise for special-needs students Public board report finds drop overall Ottawa's public schools are suspending a growing number of students with special needs from autism to learning disabilities, according to a newly released report obtained by the Citizen. The report, which will be discussed tonight by the board of education's Special Education Advisory Committee, shows that at the same time overall suspensions have dropped almost 38 per cent over the past five years. But it is the increase related to the suspension of children with special needs that is raising concern. " The kids who need help the most are the ones getting suspended," said Dale Ford, a former special education resources teacher who acts as an advocate for the families of suspended children. The number of suspensions among special needs students went up from 1,210 in 2006-2007 to 1,893 in 2008-2009, and represented 16 per cent of the 11,601 students who had special needs. That includes 698 students with behavioural issues; 5,185 that have an identified learning disability; 2,770 gifted students; 698 diagnosed with autism and 775 with mild intellectual disabilities. The total number of suspensions dropped by 2,063 in the 2008-2009 academic year compared to the previous year, according to the report delivered to the Ottawa public board's education committee. Overall, there were 5,179 suspensions last year out of 72,565 students, representing just more than seven per cent of the total school population. That's 32-per-cent fewer suspensions at the elementary level and more than 24-per-cent fewer suspensions in high schools compared to the previous year. " It ( the suspension of special needs children) concerns me. We really need to take a close look at students with exceptionalities," said Dr. Petra Duschner, manager of safe schools for the school board. Within the special-needs category, there are different suspension rates. Between 2006-2007 and 20082009, suspensions for students with mild intellectual disabilities increased from 18 to 33 per cent. But suspensions for students with autism were down from 7.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent. "We really need to look at the specific cases and see what we can do to support these students effectively," said Duschner. Suspension rates were expected to drop after changes were made to the Safe Schools Act two years ago. Before, principals had a menu of infractions that would result in suspensions. Now, they have more latitude to choose in-school interventions instead. Mitigating factors include the student's inability to control behaviour or understand consequences, as well as the risks the student presents to others. If the student has an individualized learning plan, administrators also have to consider if the suspension will worsen the student's conduct. Duschner said any diagnosis is a mitigating factor when decisions are made, but educators are still familiarizing themselves with changes to the law. Most suspensions are for one or two days, she said. "Time away can be good for a child." Nancy Gibson, who provides direction and support for the families of autistic children at the Ottawa chapter of Autism Ontario, said she is increasingly getting calls from parents who are asked if their child can take some time off school without formally being suspended. Other students are being asked to reduce the number of hours they spend in school. Ford has about 50 clients now, all students with special needs. " What I am seeing is basically children being suspended for being autistic," said Ford. "They're continuing to suspend and expel children for disability behaviour." Trustee Pam FitzGerald has heard complaints from parents whose children are suspended after they spiral into a meltdown. While the number of education assistants hasn't changed, demand has increased. For example, the number of students with autism has jumped from 394 students to 698 in just one year, an increase of over 77 per cent. " We're going to have more and more kids with autism in schools," said FitzGerald. "It's just growing in leaps and bounds and no one knows why." Meanwhile, there are fewer congregated classes, so the education assistants spend only a few minutes in each classroom before moving on to the next, said FitzGerald. "A lot of kids have something that triggers them. An EA who knows that child can see it coming and whisk the child into a quiet corner." Linda Barbetta, executive director of the Learning Disabilities Association of Ottawa-Carleton, has noticed the numbers. There were 890 suspensions of students with learning disabilities, up from 672 the previous year. "If you're not successful at school, it manifests in anxiety, frustration and inattention," said Barbetta. " When you have a number that spikes, you have to look at what you stopped doing and what you can do. And look at the schools that keep their numbers down." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091219/34223743/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 23 21:22:48 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 23 21:28:09 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Tapping Into India's Growing Alcohol Market Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091223204744.03f6a088@ncf.ca> "...the growth of the middle class, particularly women, for whom drinking wine is a mark of urban sophistication...." http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1949796,00.html TIME World Tapping Into India's Growing Alcohol Market By Jyoti Thottam / Mumbai and Elliot Hannon New Delhi Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009 Steven Spurrier was in Mumbai but thinking of Paris. He is the British wine expert best known for organizing the so-called "Judgment of Paris" ??? a 1976 blind tasting between French and U.S. wines in which the Americans improbably came out on top. The contest was a sensation, and sparked the explosion of the American wine market. Thirty-three years later, Spurrier is hoping to witness another revolution, this time in India. He came to Mumbai in November to co-chair the inaugural Sommelier India Wine Competition, in which a panel of India-based experts judged more than 450 wines, most of them imported, in a country where the market for wine was virtually non-existent 10 years ago. "The enthusiasm to try wine is just tremendous," Spurrier says. "To me, it's an enormous pleasure and a rush." The Indian market for alcohol ? mostly spirits and beer, as well ass wine ? totaled $14 billion last year, and was one of the fastest-ggrowing alcohol markets in the world. Imports account for only a tiny fraction of that, but with India booming while demand elsewhere stalls, no international beverage company can afford to ignore it. Over the next five years, the Indian market for alcohol is projected to grow at 10% a year ?? more than China, the U.S. and Europe combined, according to an estimate by KPMG India. "You've got a sizeable population, a growing middle class, a growing economy," says Nigel Fairbrass, a spokesman for SAB Miller, one of the world's largest brewers. "All of that is driving increasing consumption of alcohol products." Drinking patterns in India are unlike that of any other major market. Hard liquor is far more popular than beer and wine, with spirits accounting for about 70% of the market. Nearly all of that is whiskey ? a legacy oof the colonial fondness for Scotch. India is the largest whiskey market in the world, so American whiskey producers figure they've got a head start in India compared to other new markets. "Indians are pre-ordained whiskey drinkers," says Frank Coleman, senior vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group for American spirits makers. "They've developed a taste for whiskey." What they're drinking, however, are well-established Indian brands, not imports. The U.S. exported only about $1 million worth of whiskey to India last year, just 1% of total U.S. whiskey exports and an even tinier fraction of the $7.5 billion Indian whiskey market. Coleman is hoping to change that. In October, his trade group organized a three-city tour of India to introduce Indian consumers to the pleasures of bourbon, rye and other American whiskeys. At the Delhi event, the New York City bar legend Toby Cecchini, who is credited with inventing the Cosmopolitan, mixed classic cocktails and some with an Indian twist, like whiskey sours spiked with ginger, for bar managers and bartenders from the city's top hotels and restaurants. "The Manhattans are awesome," said one attendee. But it's the taxes on imported whiskey, not the taste, that are preventing it from winning more market share The import duties begin at 150%, and additional state taxes can add another 150% or more to the price of a bottle. Wine and beer face similar import duties, as well as additional and constantly changing state taxes and regulations. The complexity of the market means that only big producers like Jack Daniels and Jim Beam can afford to make a go in India on their own, and usually only with their premium labels. Although single-malt is a new status symbol in India, Scotch whisky producers have been similarly frustrated in their efforts to crack the Indian market. In response to complaints at the World Trade Organization, India has lowered its base tariff, but alcohol importers and trade representatives from the U.S. and European Union are pressuring India to lower taxes even further. In the meantime, beer companies have found other ways to get their products into Indian glasses. Brewers have used joint ventures, dedicated local breweries and local contract farmers to expand distribution and lower their costs. SAB Miller, for example, contracts 10,000 farmers in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan to grow barley for all the beer they sell in India ? including Foster's, which is branded as Australian but brewed in India. The company has been operating in India since 2000, and last year made a profit of about $7.5 million on $230 million in revenue ? enouugh to convince it to invest $500 million more in India over the next five years. Carlsberg and Heineken have been in India less than three years, but both companies are expanding. Heineken bought a 37.5% interest in India's largest alcohol company, United Breweries, while Carlsberg has invested $53 million to reach its target of 5% of the Indian beer market this year. InBev, which recently bought competitor Anheuser Busch, has just launched Budweiser in India and plans $96 million in investment. Wine consumption, meanwhile, is growing much faster than spirits or beer in India, but from a much smaller base. Only about 700,000 cases were sold last year, about 2% of the total alcohol market, but it has benefited hugely from the growth of the middle class, particularly women, for whom drinking wine is a mark of urban sophistication. The wine market has grown from virtually zero 10 years ago to $253 million last year, and it is expected to more than double to $630 million by 2013. "There's a complete turnaround," says Gianander Dua, an importer based in New Delhi. He represents not just French and Italian wines but also those from Argentina and Austria, which are much smaller wine exporting countries. They all see the Indian consumer as a safe harbor in a global recession, Dua says. "The buying capacity in India is there." Of course, the risks of betting on the next big thing are well known to drinks companies. The Chinese market for wine, for example, has failed to live up to its hype. Spurrier says India is different; the high taxes and complex regulations make doing business difficult, but getting into the market is much easier. "The lights in India are on green," he says. And there is a certain camaraderie between domestic and imported wine producers in India, who face the same challenge of getting Indians in the habit of the grape. At events like the one in Mumbai, they came together easily, toasting with both aged vintage Champagne and Maharashtra shiraz. Now that's a revolution. Read "India's New Wines." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091223/6548b97c/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 23 21:24:00 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 23 21:28:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol now costs less than water: U.K. Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091223212349.03760370@ncf.ca> "...angry that companies had ignored requests for bottles and cans to display responsible drinking messages, warnings to pregnant women about the dangers of alcohol and the number of units men and women can safely drink per week. "...'If the voluntary agreement is going to work, I need to see much more action,'...." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6962974.ece TIMESLONLINE London, U.K. News From The Sunday Times December 20, 2009 Alcohol now costs less than water Julia Belgutay and Matthew Holehouse Supermarkets have been accused of encouraging binge drinking by continuing to sell alcohol more cheaply than bottled water. Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury?s are among those selling beer at just over 5p per 100ml. This contrasts with a typical price of about 8p for 100ml of brand-name mineral water. Campaigners claim such retailers are ?irresponsible?, using cheap alcohol to lure customers, while ignoring warnings from senior health figures that selling it at rock-bottom prices leads to more drinking. Earlier this year, Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer for England and Wales, called for minimum pricing for alcohol. He claimed that charging a minimum of 50p per unit of alcohol ? raising the cost of an average six-pack of lager to ?6 ? would save up to 3,400 lives a year and cut the number of hospital admissions by 100,000. The alcohol industry and Gordon Brown rejected the idea. Cut-price deals are now widespread. Last week, Morrisons in Peckham, south London, was offering four 440ml cans of value lager or bitter for 91p, or 5.2p per 100ml. The store sells a litre of Strathmore mineral water for 89p. Sainsbury?s in New Cross, also in south London, was selling four 440ml cans of own-brand lager and bitter for 91p and 94p respectively. A two-litre bottle of basic cider cost ?1.21, or 6.1p per 100ml. A litre bottle of Highland Spring mineral water, meanwhile, was on sale for 8.5p per 100ml. The Tesco Extra in St Rollox, Glasgow, was offering four 440ml cans of its value lager for 91p. The supermarket charges 85p for a litre of Highland Spring water. Asda in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, was also selling four 440ml cans of its own-brand Smart Price lager and bitter for just over 5p per 100ml. Strathmore mineral water cost 8.5p per 100ml. The fact that it is possible to buy beer cheaper than water is seen by campaigners as worrying. Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said government attempts to curb binge drinking were being undermined by supermarket discounting. ?Unless they tackle the problem of cheap alcohol, they are fighting a losing battle,? he said. ?The evidence shows young people and harmful drinkers are drawn to very cheap alcohol. ?Supermarkets sell alcohol at a loss because they know it gets people into the stores. A lot of these sales are irresponsible.? A spokeswoman for the British Medical Association added: ?It is a real worry that you can buy alcohol cheaper than mineral water. We have a huge problem with alcohol abuse in the UK, so we want a clampdown on these cut-throat price deals.? Supermarkets denied they were promoting irresponsible drinking, pointing to schemes requiring younger customers to prove their age as evidence of their intention to tackle under-age drinking. ?Our customers expect us to provide them with a wide range of good value products to suit their tastes and budgets,? a Tesco spokeswoman said. Asda points out that its Smart Price sparkling water is 5p a litre. Ministers are now planning a law to force drinks companies to put warnings on alcohol after an audit by the Department of Health found many leading brands were ignoring a voluntary code agreed with the government. The department is preparing to name firms that fail to abide by the code. Gillian Merron, the public health minister, said she was angry that companies had ignored requests for bottles and cans to display responsible drinking messages, warnings to pregnant women about the dangers of alcohol and the number of units men and women can safely drink per week. ?Despite good efforts from brands such as Bulmers, Foster?s and others, progress on labelling has been very disappointing. If the voluntary agreement is going to work, I need to see much more action,? Merron said. Comments -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091223/95a9ee49/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 23 21:24:22 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 23 21:28:15 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Nurses to offer patients advice on alcohol intake: Wales Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091223212413.037600e0@ncf.ca> [This could be an opportunity for nurses to talk about alcohol & pregnancy.] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8424598.stm BBC News Published: 2009/12/21 13:09:54 GMT Nurses to offer patients advice on alcohol intake Nurses are to advise patients about their drinking habits as part of a scheme to tackle binge drinking. Patients who return to hospital for treatment after a drink-related injury will receive advice from nurses about their alcohol intake. The assembly government-led scheme will start across Wales in February. The chief nursing officer for Wales said the binge-drinking culture was "getting worse" and this could help reduce long term damage to health. A recent report suggested 1,000 deaths each year in Wales are linked to alcohol misuse. Research by Professor Jonathan Shepherd, of Cardiff university's violence research group, has found it is possible to detect alcohol misuse and treat it using "brief interventions when patients with injuries return to hospital". " Binge-drinking culture is getting worse in Wales " Rosemary Kennedy, chief nursing officer for Wales He said: "Excessive drinking is a major cause of illness, injury, and behavioural problems in Wales. "The chief medical officer for Wales' latest annual report found that some 45,000 hospital admissions and 1,000 deaths every year in Wales are linked to alcohol misuse. "One way to address this is through brief interventions. Hospital treatment can be a sobering experience for people and evidence shows that people are more receptive to healthcare messages when they are delivered in a clinical setting." The initiative, which is part of a partnership between NHS Wales and Cardiff University, is designed to target drinkers who do not need specialist alcohol treatment but whose drinking is likely to eventually damage their health. Nurses who work in trauma and maxillofacial clinics are being encouraged to be trained to provide the advice. 'Increasing burden' Chief medical officer for Wales Dr Tony Jewell said the assembly government's substance misuse strategy had provided the impetus for the development. "In my recent letter to the service I highlighted the need to educate people about the health risks associated with exceeding safe drinking limits and make sure the health service takes this opportunity to engage fully in this training programme." Rosemary Kennedy, chief nursing officer for Wales said: "Binge-drinking culture is getting worse in Wales. "Evidence-based interventions will help reduce the long-term damage from excessive drinking and the increasing burden on the NHS." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8424598.stm Published: 2009/12/21 13:09:54 GMT -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091223/5bd461a7/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 23 21:24:40 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 23 21:28:22 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Hangover impairs judgment in young adults Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091223212432.0375fe50@ncf.ca> [No mention of sex or pregnancy] http://www.nationalpost.com/life/health/story.html?id=579d3361-08fd-446d-b0ec-5c4bb6528efc National Post Health Hangover impairs judgment in young adults Reuters Published: Friday, December 18, 2009 By: Rachael Myers Lowe NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It's not enough to "sleep it off" after a night of drinking. According to a study released today, the effects of intoxication last long after the booze is out of the blood, not only leaving a nasty hangover but also slowing reaction times and the ability to concentrate the next morning. Rhode Island and Massachusetts researchers found that it didn't matter whether the liquor consumed was clear or dark; the level of brain impairment was the same the next morning. "People will be impaired the morning after - after the alcohol leaves the system," Dr. Damaris Rohsenow of the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies in Providence, Rhode Island noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health. The findings are based on a study looking at the effects of heavy drinking on 95 young adults between the ages of 21 and 33. The subjects spent two nights at the Boston test facility. One night they were given alcohol (either vodka or bourbon mixed in cola) and the other night they were given a placebo. The researchers determined their blood alcohol levels, sleep patterns and ability to think quickly and over a long period of time. To approximate the effects of drinking on an empty stomach, Rohsenow and colleagues gave test subjects a standardized meal three hours before the test liquids were given until subjects reached a minimum blood alcohol level of 0.09 grams percent. (In all 50 states, 0.08 grams percent is considered legally drunk.) Previous research shows that symptoms of a hangover (headache, nausea, sleepiness) usually lift within a few hours of waking. While this study did not measure how long impairment lasted, Rohsenow told Reuters Health: "It's likely that the performance effects probably lift within a few hours," too. Vodka and bourbon appear on each extreme of alcohol purity: vodka is the most free of impurities while bourbon has the highest level - all other alcohols are somewhere in between. Previous research shows that the higher the impurities the lousier a drinker is likely to feel the next day, but this study showed that impairment was the same. "Bourbon versus vodka didn't make a difference; the biggest thing was the alcohol itself," Rohsenow said. Subjects given alcohol the night before "thought their ability to drive a car was as good as or better" than those who were administered placebo, Rohsenow said. It "might be a good rule of thumb (to) wait until they don't feel so lousy the next morning before doing any activities that might involve operating dangerous equipment," Rohsenow said. The researchers chose to study young adults because there are more heavy drinkers among this age group, it's safer, and they have more time to devote to the overnight stays required by the study. As a result, the findings can only be applied to people between the ages of 21 and 33. "Older adults could be affected differently for physiological reasons and experience reasons," Rohsenow cautioned. SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, March 2010. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091223/b81456fd/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Dec 23 22:50:33 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Dec 23 22:52:06 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Where can I get general information & other resources about FASD? Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20091223225024.0375fb38@ncf.ca> [] Where can I get general information and other resources about FASD IN CANADA? From the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse www.ccsa.ca Click on "Knowledge Centre" Click on "Common Questions and Answers" Scroll down to "FASD" Click on the first "Where can I get general information and other resources about FASD?" or Click on any http://www.ccsa.ca/Eng/KnowledgeCentre/common_questions_answers/Pages/default.aspx Common Questions and Answers..... FASD Where can I get general information and other resources about FASD? I drank alcohol (used drugs) before I knew I was pregnant and am worried that my baby may be affected by my alcohol (drug) consumption. How can I find out if my baby is at risk? I think my child (grandchild, daughter, sister, brother) may have FASD. What do I do? What is involved in getting an FASD diagnosis? Are there any specialized addiction treatment services or resources for adolescents or adults with FASD? What training or education programs and resources are there on FASD? Are there any resources for teachers to help students with FASD in the classroom? What are the secondary disabilities associated with FASD? Where can I get a copy of the FASD Directory? You can also search the CCSA FASD Databases www.ccsa.ca Click on "Knowledge Centre" Click on "Our Databases" Click on "FASD" FASD Databases FASD Organizations FASD Resources FASD Trainers FASD Training Programs -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20091223/eb31731c/attachment.html