By Mary McNeil

Minister of Children and Family Development

Sept. 9, 2011

VICTORIA - Alcohol and pregnancy don't mix. Healthy mothers and babies need everyone's support.

These words are at the heart of our Province's annual Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Prevention and Support Day proclaimed for Sept. 9, 2011, and FASD Prevention and Support Month.

Each year, on the ninth day of the ninth month, people in British Columbia and around the world mark the day by launching awareness campaigns and holding community events to help raise awareness about the dangers of drinking while pregnant and the struggles of individuals and families living with FASD.

This day was chosen so that on the ninth day of the ninth month of the year, the world will remember that during the nine months of pregnancy a woman should abstain from alcohol.

It's important that everyone be aware of the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant. In Canada, it's estimated that approximately nine in every 1,000 infants are born with FASD.

Children born with FASD may have a wide range of challenges including problems with memory, reasoning, attention and problem-solving and heart, vision and hearing problems. All of the problems last a lifetime.

This month, FASD awareness materials - posters, counter decals and brochures - are featured in all 197 BC Liquor Stores throughout the province. Informational posters featuring a pregnant woman and her partner are displayed in the checkout lanes.

This year, the BC Liquor Distribution Branch teamed up with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Ministry of Health, BC Women's Health Centre, and the Public Health Agency of Canada to produce the brochure, Alcohol & Pregnancy Don't Mix. Brochures are available year-round in BC Liquor Stores, and they are also widely distributed to parent support agencies and other health and women's organizations throughout B.C.

We hope this will serve as a good message to all British Columbians of the dangers of consuming alcohol during pregnancy. We also hope that it will encourage families, friends and partners to be supportive of a woman's healthy pregnancy.

Through partnerships between government, health authorities, school districts and community organizations, many community-based initiatives are underway throughout the province in the areas of prevention, assessment and diagnosis and support.

Please join with us and spread the word. Tell your family, tell your friends. It's important to remember that there is no safe amount of alcohol, no safe type of alcohol, and no safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy.

Through prevention and education, we want to support all women to have healthy pregnancies.

Contact:

Cindy Rose

Media Relations Manager

Ministry of Children and Family Development

250 356-1639

Connect with the Province of B.C. at: www.gov.bc.ca/connect