HCR 31 - ALCOHOL-RELATED BIRTH DEFECTS AWARENESS Number 028 REP. IRENE NICHOLIA, Co-Sponsor of HCR 31, referred to Steven Jacquier to introduce the project and the students involved, who were also present in Juneau at the committee meeting. Number 038 STEVEN JACQUIER, Principal, Rampart School, supervised the student project for HCR 31. He stated that this was the third year of the project and that it was becoming more successful. He explained, as part of the project, that students inject laboratory mice with ethanol (e.g., the alcohol found in beer, wine and hard liquor) and observe the offspring born to those mice. As a result of the injections, the baby mice have been found to have birth defects, abnormalities, and deformities. (Note: The students involved referred to pictures and props as they explained their project.) Number 074 THOMAS WIEHL, Student, Rampart School, referred to a chart and compared a normal newborn's brain with that of the brain of a newborn with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). He noted the obvious damage to the FAS brain. He also did the same comparison with the brains of mice. Number 148 JOHN ORRISON, Student, Rampart School, displayed a poster that contained photos of himself with a mouse injected with alcohol and other students with baby mice. He stated that the mother of a FAS baby mouse will cannibalize her offspring because it is deformed. Number 192 MICHAEL WIEHL, Student, Rampart School, participated in the demonstration by explaining that another student was preparing to put flame to one ounce of alcohol, equal to that of a shot of hard liquor, or the amount contained in a can of beer or a glass of wine. He then exhibited a poster that showed pictures of a laboratory mouse undergoing a caesarean section. Number 233 LAWRENCE DERENDOFF, student, Rampart School, put a lit match to a pan of alcohol and stated that it demonstrated the amount of energy contained in a shot of whiskey, a can of beer, or a glass of wine. He explained that it would take three hours for an expectant mother to process the same amount of alcohol. Number 276 MR. JACQUIER said the alcohol would remain in the mother's body for several hours beyond that, and each additional beer would pass through the placenta of the fetus. (Note: At that time, Lawrence Derendoff held up a rubber prop of a normal five month old fetus and indicated the umbilical cord that would be attached to the placenta.) Number 286 MR. JACQUIER said that the he did not bring the deformed mouse offspring with him to display to the committee. He stated that the flame from the dish would burn for approximately two and one-half minutes. He said these demonstrations provided hands-on experiments allowing the student and perhaps eventual parent to see the results of FAS on newborn mice and hopefully the ominous affects alcohol could have on their own children. Number 339 CHAIR TOOHEY asked the students if they were aware of the deformity of spina bifida. She explained to them that it was a severe spinal deformity that affects fetuses. She stated that when there is a folic acid deficiency in the expectant mother, it results in fetal spina bifida, one of the most debilitating deformities that a child could be born with. She stated that if every women of childbearing age would take folic acid, spina bifida would be wiped out. Number 369 REP. BUNDE asked the students if their peers were heeding the implications and information resulting from the science experiments and not drinking while they're pregnant. Number 393 LAWRENCE DERENDOFF said he felt the students were responding positively to the presentation. Number 398 REP. BUNDE said that teens are more likely to believe their peers more so than their parents when they are told that drinking while pregnant is dangerous. He said it was his feeling that the students were saving lives. Number 419 (CHAIR TOOHEY stated for the record that Rep. Vezey, Rep. Olberg, Rep. Kott and Rep. G. Davis had arrived between 3:05 p.m. and 3:08 p.m. She passed the gavel to Rep. Bunde, who then chaired the remainder of the meeting.) Number 438 REP. NICHOLIA made a motion to move HCR 31 out of committee. Number 449 CHAIR BUNDE, hearing no objections, stated that HCR 31 was so moved. He thanked the presenters of the demonstration. Number 450 CHAIR BUNDE then brought HB 361 to the table. He stated that there were witnesses participating by teleconference. He indicated that there were two versions before the committee to be reviewed for different levels of funding. Chair Bunde took a brief at-ease at 3:14 and reconvened at 3:17 p.m. He stated that it was not his intention to move either version out of committee. Chair Bunde indicated that version 8-LS1486/A (version A) was the original bill and the committee substitute (CS) was version 8-LS1486/K (version K).