Political Quotes

“Mr. President, for the 13th consecutive year, communities across the world today are pausing during the 9th hour of the 9th day of the 9th month to acknowledge International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day. FASD Day will be observed in my home State of Alaska with ceremonies across the State. I am grateful that this body is also recognizing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day with a moment of reflection. For this, I thank my colleagues, especially the senior Senator from South Dakota, Tim Johnson, who has joined with me in offering a resolution recognizing September 9, 2011, as National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day. I hope we will continue to pause in the ninth hour of the ninth day each September until fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are eradicated. FASD is an umbrella term that describes a range of physical and mental birth defects that can occur in a fetus when a pregnant woman consumes alcohol. It is a leading cause of nonhereditary mental retardation in the United States. Many children affected by maternal drinking during pregnancy have irreversible conditions, including severe brain damage. It is causing permanent lifelong disability. Unlike thousands of other diseases, FASD is 100 percent preventable. Prevention merely requires a woman to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. Knowing that it is entirely preventable, it saddens me to think that every year in this country an estimated 1 in every 100 babies is born with FASD.…”