Thomas Daschle: “In numerous ways, this nation demonstrates that our children are our most valuable investment and our most precious…”

“In numerous ways, this nation demonstrates that our children are our most valuable investment and our most precious asset. We work to improve their education, to give them greater access to high quality health care, to minimize their exposure to tobacco and other addictive agents. We are driven to do all we can to help them realize their potential and achieve their personal and professional goals. In that context, it is inconsistent and shortsighted that, year after year, we pay little or no attention to a public health problem that is 100 percent preventable, yet affects more and more children each year, and that inalterably damages physical, mental and emotional processes critical to a child's ability to grow into an independent, fully functioning adult. The public health problem I am referring to is fetal alcohol syndrome. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and the related condition, fetal alcohol effect (FAE), are lifelong conditions characterized by multiple physical, mental, and behavioral handicaps. FAS and FAE cross racial, ethnic and economic lines to affect families throughout the United States. Both conditions are 100 percent preventable--and 100 percent irreversible. In January of 1997, I introduced S.148, a bill to establish a program for the prevention of FAS and FAE.”