Senate Supports National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day

On May 12, the Senate approved, by voice vote, a resolution (S. Res. 141) designating September 9, 2005, as “National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day.”

Sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

The term “fetal alcohol spectrum disorders” includes a broad range of conditions and therefore has replaced the term “fetal alcohol syndrome” as the umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy;
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are the leading cause of mental retardation in western civilization and are 100 percent preventable;
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are a major cause of numerous social disorders, including learning disabilities, school failure, juvenile delinquency, homelessness, unemployment, mental illness, and crime;
The incidence rate of fetal alcohol syndrome in the United States is 1 out of 500 live births, and the incidence rate of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is estimated at 1 out of every 100 live births; and
The economic cost of fetal alcohol syndrome in the United States was $5.4 billion in 2003, and it is estimated that each individual with fetal alcohol syndrome will cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1.5 million in his or her lifetime.

Stressing the danger of consuming alcohol during pregnancy, Sen. Murkowski stated, “When a pregnant woman drinks, the alcohol crosses the placenta into the fetal blood system. Thus, alcohol reaches the fetus, its developing tissues and organs. This is how brain damage occurs, which in turn can lead to mental retardation, social and emotional problems, learning disabilities and other problems…Since the only cause of FASD [fetal alcohol spectrum disorders] is prenatal alcohol consumption it follows that by abstaining from the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy a woman can completely foreclose the possibility that her baby will be born with one or another of the conditions that are regarded fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Every day of the year we must remind women that no amount of alcohol consumed during pregnancy is safe for their baby. No alcohol during pregnancy is safe. None at all.”

Sen. Murkowski explained that she asked the Senate leadership to consider the resolution in May to coincide with the second annual FASD Hill Day on May 18.