Having caught the debate, I visited the web-site.  Who is Bruce Ritchie?
What is TRIUMF?  I had the uncomfortable feeling of reading a "true-belief"
zealot's page.  While not wanting to discount the problems of FAS, I wonder
if we are not constructing yet another single disease for complex social
pathologies.  Is there someone on this list with a less-vested take on FAS
who might corroborate or question the huge statistical list of social ills
the TRIUMF web-site attributes to (it would seem) even a single drink by a
pregnant woman?  I could be wrong/out of touch with this issue.  Or TRIUMF
could be dangerous.

At 04:11 PM 7/12/99 -0400, you wrote:
>As someone who spent 5 years on Canada's west coast as a psychotherapist in
>alcohol and drug services I do think that FAS is a huge and significant
>problem. I can also report that in those five years of dealing with severely
>addicted people, I met no more than one or two who were not abused in
>childhood. In particular, those who were sexually abused as children tended
>to face the most significant challenges in recovery.
>
>If I were given a single shot at focussing on "society's persistent
>problems" I'd pick child abuse. But this is simplistic of course since
>poverty and a host of other factors work their way into the mix. So the
>challenge then becomes how we deal with everything that co-causes our
>persistent problems. Faced with the vastness of the "persistent problems",
>we fall back on "persistent beliefs". And so the hand turns, and the finger
>points at mother.
>
>I would certainly support a constructively critical letter Christine. Let me
>know if I can help.
>
>Lawrence Murphy
>
>
>
><snip>
>>I thought we had moved beyond this kind of witch hunt.
>>
>>I am interested in the opinions of others on this issue.
>
><snip>
>
>well said Christine.  all to often we tend to focus on the first tangible
>thing that blame can be hung on.  in the case of FAS, it's the mother.  it's
>easier to blame than it is to look at and do something about the underlying
>factors.  if society were to spend more energy looking at value, rather than
>cost we might be able to do more to help and save money in the long run.
>the problem as i see it, is that anything that takes more than four years to
>show positive results won't get the votes needed to win the next election.
>
>regards
>
>tom batstone
>
>
_________________________________________________________________________

Ronald Labonte, PhD
Communitas Consulting
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