03/30/2011 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES

          SCR  7-FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS DAY                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
1:34:35 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DAVIS  announced the first  order of business would  be SCR
, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR KEVIN MEYER,  sponsor of SCR 7, said  this bill proclaims                                                               
September  9, 2011,  as Fetal  Alcohol Spectrum  Disorders (FASD)                                                               
Awareness Day.  The date is  a reminder on  the ninth day  of the                                                               
ninth  month that  during the  nine months  of pregnancy  a woman                                                               
should  abstain  from alcohol.  He  has  had the  opportunity  of                                                               
participating in FASD awareness events over the past few years.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
Unfortunately, Alaska has  the highest known rate of  FASD in the                                                               
United States.  This is caused  by prenatal exposure  to alcohol;                                                               
FASD   can   result   in   permanent   brain   damage,   learning                                                               
difficulties, behavior  problems, birth defects, and  the loss of                                                               
individual  potential. Lifetime  costs of  services for  affected                                                               
individuals  are in  the  millions of  dollars.  FASD is  totally                                                               
preventable.  This   resolution  supports  an  effort   to  bring                                                               
attention to the  condition that has been  devastating our state.                                                               
If we  keep working  at it  long enough  and hard  enough, people                                                               
will get the message and we will see a change in behavior.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
1:37:03 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR DYSON commended the sponsor  for introducing the bill. He                                                               
said  FASD is  totally preventable,  and some  progress has  been                                                               
made in the past twelve years  with laws requiring warnings to be                                                               
posted. Six years ago the state  was spending about $1 million on                                                               
each child with FASD by age 18.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
1:38:04 PM                                                                                                                    
DEB EVENSEN, representing  herself, said SCR 7 was  a really good                                                               
idea.  This  is  an  inexpensive  way to  deal  with  a  gigantic                                                               
problem. Helping  mothers not drink  when they are  pregnant will                                                               
decrease suicide rates, crime rates,  school failures, and reduce                                                               
the prison population.  Over the last 25 years she  has worked in                                                               
almost  every village  and town  in  the state  and almost  every                                                               
school district. In some communities  there is a third generation                                                               
of children  being born with  FASD. Many people still  don't know                                                               
that a  glass of wine  during pregnancy destroys 10,000  cells in                                                               
the  developing  fetal  brain.  We can  help  turn  this  problem                                                               
around.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
1:40:32 PM                                                                                                                    
K.J. METCALFE, speaking  for himself, said he had  been the chair                                                               
for  the last  two FASD  regional conferences  here in  Southeast                                                               
Alaska. They  are having a  workshop this coming Tuesday  on FASD                                                               
and  sexuality. This  bill goes  to the  heart of  the issue.  He                                                               
would  like  to say  that  prevention  is  the key,  but  support                                                               
services are also needed.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
For  example, he  knows  of two  women in  town  who are  chronic                                                               
alcoholics, probably  their mothers were also.  Between them they                                                               
had 20  children who  all became  wards of  the state.  Now those                                                               
children  are   becoming  sexually  active,  and   they  are  all                                                               
affected.  Twenty  children,  two  adults,  probably  more  being                                                               
created as we  speak; that is a  huge amount of money  that if we                                                               
had  taken care  of  those two  women they  could  have raised  a                                                               
healthy baby  and we could cut  down the FASD rate.  Education is                                                               
the key.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
1:43:31 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR  DAVIS thanked  Senator  Meyer  and asked  if  the day  was                                                               
always September 9.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR MEYER  answered yes, it  is always  the ninth day  of the                                                               
ninth month.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR DAVIS noted there is a way  where this would not have to be                                                               
passed each year.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  EGAN  moved   to  report  SCR  7   from  committee  with                                                               
individual  recommendations and  attached  fiscal note(s).  There                                                               
being  no objection,  SCR  7  moved from  the  Senate Health  and                                                               
Social Services Standing Committee.