Christine I couldn't agree with you more. It seems it's all around us! Is there anything we can do to educate the people in this project? Adeline At 10:33 AM 7/12/99 -0500, you wrote: >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] > _________________________________________________________ "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts" Albert Einstein