I'm not sure if this is the appropriate way to address
something that was published in the last OHPE, however,
here goes.


In section B, there is an announcement for the
International Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Day. I checked
out one of the websites listed, www.acbr.com/fas/
and found this on the homepage:

"Many of society's most persistent problems stem from a
single source: pregnant women drinking alcohol causing neurological
damage to the child. The injured child is unable to meet the demands
of parents, family, peers, school, career, adherence to rules, and
enters a lifetime cycle of failures. Often the neurological damage
goes undiagnosed, but not unpunished."


Really?
While I certainly don't deny that drinking during pregnancy
has very harmful effects on the fetus, and I'm sure that
the leaders of TRIUMF project have the best intentions, what about
addressing why women drink and all the other factors
that affect children, including access to health care and education,
exposure to environmental toxins, freedom from molestation and
physical violence against themselves and their mothers?  What about
the effects of alcohol and drug use by the father on the fetus?

Why are we engaging in blaming the mother for all of
society's problems?  This is ludicrous and also dangerous.
I thought we had moved beyond this kind of witch hunt.

I am interested in the opinions of others on this issue.

Christine Marton
Doctoral student
Faculty of Information Studies, U of T
[log in to unmask]