BSS Castlegar News November 16, 1983 HEALTH _ Unborn children alcohol victims As the holiday season approaches, British Columbia's health care workers are concerned that the province's mothers-to-be make themselves aware of the potentially serious — even fatal — consequences of alcohol consumption on unborn children. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome —FAS — is a general term for physical and mental birth defects which can be traced to significant alcohol consumption by mothers while pregnant. While many parents — even some members of the health community — remain unaware that the problem exists, Ministry of Health Nursing Consultant Margaret Wilson and Nutrition Consultant Ellin McCarthy are all too aware of the problems involved in expectant mothers consuming alcohol and are involved in programs aimed at creating an awareness of the problem and preventing FAS cases within B.C. “The real tragedy of FAS is that it is preventable. It just doesn’t have to happen,” says Wilson. She notes that until the beginning of the 1970's, FAS children were not widely reported to authorities because of a lack of awareness of the problem. But the problem is serious — and deadly. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can kill— there have be: several fatalities in B.C., and just as importantly, the syndrome affects children born live. Growth deficiency is one of the most prominent Gay’s hormones aren't different By AUSTIN RAND There are no detectable hormonal or physical differ- ences between homosexual and heterosexual men, a Canadian study suggests. In a study of 19 exclusively heterosexual men and 23 exclusively homosexual men, Jerald Bain and Robert Sanders of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, and Ron Langevin of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry found that levels of seven important hormones, including testosterone, the principal male hormone, did not differ between homo- sexuals and heterosexuals. Physical examination, including body weight and body proportions, ‘also showed no differences. IN THE FAMILY Law students are particularly likely to come from a family that experienced legal problems and medical students are likely to have had severe illness in the family in childhood, a Canadian study suggests. The study was based on a survey of 264 law students and 201 medical students at McGill University, Montreal. The study found. that 31 per cent of law students, compared with only 18 per cent of medical students, came from a family which at some point experienced problems requiring the services of a lawyer. Similarly, the researchers found, medical students were more likely than law students to have had, during childhood, a severe illness in the family. Researchers Dr. K. Paris and H. Frank of McGill says the study suggests some students who choose a law or medical career are motivated in part by a desire to “make right” a problem that they experienced but could not do anything about in childhood. GREEN FOR VDT For those who work with video display terminals, green letters and numbers are the easiest on the eye, say two Canadian optometrists. Writing in the American Journal of Optometry and Physiological, Optics, John Sivak and George Woo of the University of Waterloo's school of optometry, say that VDT operators’ Ereierenss for green characters is well-founded. symptoms. Affected babies are abnormally,small at birth, especially in head size. Unlike many small newborns, however, these youngsters never catch up to normal growth. Most affected youngsters have small brains and show degrees of mental deficiency. Many are poorly co-ordinated and jittery and have short attention spans and behavioral problems. Evidence to date shows that their IQs do not improve with age. Not every FAS baby has all defects but there is a relationship between the severity of physical characteristics and the degree of mental impairment. FAS is a very real problem in B.C. today, especially so for teen-aged mothers whose children are in double jeopardy when the mother drinks prior to or during pregnancy. Teen-age mothers often deliver children which are too small or deliver too soon because their bodies are not mature enough to meet the demands of pregnancy. Add the consequences of alcohol intake and the results are obvious. Since 1952, more than 161 cases of live-born FAS babies have been reported in British Columbia, even though the disease wasn't widely recognized or reported until the early 1970's, according to the Health Sur- veillance Registry of B.C. Each of these cases could be prevented by following straightforward, simple advice from professionals such as ee eee MONTREAL (CP) — Que- cers, but rather of the form of becers are living longer than they did 80 years ago — but they're not getting any heal- thier. By 1980, the average life expectancy of Quebecers had climbed to 70.3 years for men and 78.2 years for women, up from 66.3 years and 70.8 years respectively in 1951, says one of a series of studies by a branch of the provincial Social Affairs De- care — medication and in- stitutionalization — given the province's mentally ill. The studies, based on stat- istics from a variety of sources, gave a breakdown of the kinds of illnesses which most often affect Quebecers according to their ages. CHILDHOOD DISEASES Infants a year old and under suffer most from birth- related disorders and congen- partment. But the study also indi- cated that in 1980 a man could expect to spend an average of 59 years of his life in good health, while a woman would be healthy for 60.2 years of her life. Another of four studies re- leased last week by the Bur- eau of Social Affairs and the Family showed that of the $3.78 billion spent on health care in Quebec in 1980, the biggest chunk — 17.9 per cent — went for the care of the mentally ill or retarded. And 16.8 per cent went towards the care of Quebec- ers with cardiovascular dis- eases, while people with digestive disorders account- ed for 10.8 per cent of health care costs. The bureau noted that the high cost of caring for the mentally ill was not a reflec- tion of a high incidence of such diseases among, Quebe- The Kootenay Collection. BY KOOTENAY BAVINGS CREDIT, UNION _ Christmas Friday and Saturday only! Ellin McCarthy, ‘ “When you're pregnant your unborn baby receives nourishment from you. What you eat,;,he or she eats. What you drink, the baby drinks. So, if you have a drink — beer, wine or hard’ liquor — your unborn baby has a drink, too. The only way to eliminate risk to the fetus is to eliminate alcohol.” : Scientists know that, as with other things pregnant ‘women eat’ and drink, alcohol passes through the placenta, the organ which nourishes the unborn baby. The drink that baby gets is as strong as the one mother takes. Interestingly, although the disease has not been well reported ‘or publicized until recent years in North America, its history can be traced to the “gin epidemic” during the 1700's in England. The College of Physicians issted two reports at that time suggesting parental alcohol consumption was the cause of a declining birth rate and an increase in “weak, feeble, and distempered children.” Again, in 1884, a select committee investigating drunkenness for the House of Commons, submitted that the, offspring’ of alcoholic mothers sometimes had a “starved, shrivelled and imperfect look.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the 1970's that a direct, casual relationship between alcohol consumption and the disease was medically accepted. ital abnormalities, the stud- ies showed, while respiratory diseases have a high inci- ‘dence among children be- tween the ages of one and 14. Highway accidents are the leading cause of death among: that age group, as well as among young people aged 15 to 24. The suicide rate among the latter group is high, the studies said, as is the inci- dence of mental illness. Wolo ¢ These items on sale while quantities last, Thursday, If, fishing, parks. 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