[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 150 (Thursday, October 4, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12776-S12777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
        Durbin, Ms. Landrieu, and Mrs. Murray):
  S. 2141. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize 
and extend the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome prevention and services program, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, today I join Senators Brown, Durbin,

[[Page S12777]]

Landrieu, Murkowski and Murray in introducing the Advancing FASD 
Research, Prevention, and Services Act. I thank them for joining me in 
this important effort to improve the surveillance, identification, and 
prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders, or FASD.
  During the course of my career, I have admired people who struggle 
with the affects of a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and watched with 
deep respect as their families struggle to help them succeed. Through 
no fault of their own, these FASD-affected individuals face a lifetime 
of cognitive, physical, and emotional challenges, including severe 
learning disabilities, physical abnormalities, costly medical bills, 
and behavioral impairments. However, we have an opportunity to help 
people with an FASD overcome many of these challenges with appropriate 
health, education, judicial, and housing services. As with other 
disabilities, by investing a small amount of money, we can ensure that 
FASD-affected individuals have the resources they need to succeed in 
school, work and life.
  Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are estimated to affect 1 in 100 
live births, or more than 40,000 infants, each year. Researchers 
estimate that one percent of our population lives with an FASD, which 
is more than 3 million Americans. In my home State of South Dakota, 
approximately 7,819 individuals are suspected of having an FASD.
  The costs of this completely preventable condition to our country are 
staggering. According to the University of South Dakota Sanford School 
of Medicine's Center for Disabilities, the lifetime cost for an 
individual with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the most severe of disorders in 
this spectrum, is over $2 million. The annual cost of FASD to South 
Dakota, including medical treatment, special education services, and 
home and residential care, is estimated to be $18 million. Nationally, 
the cost for these services will approach $6 billion this year alone, 
but neither of these estimates include the economic costs of lost 
productivity.
  While there is no known cure, FASD is entirely preventable, and this 
bill seeks a balance between directing federal resources to prevention 
activities and to services for individuals living with FASD and their 
families. This bill focuses provision of services in areas where FASD 
affected individuals are already receiving help. In South Dakota, more 
than 60 percent of people diagnosed with an FASD lived within a foster 
care home for some part of their lives. With that in mind, our bill 
works to train foster care workers and foster parents on how to best 
communicate with and serve children living with FASD.
  Furthermore, it is estimated that 60 percent of individuals with FASD 
will spend some time in a correctional institution or mental health 
facility during their lives. Most individuals with FASD will commit 
their first crime between the ages of 9 and 14. To that end, our bill 
will provide health care and judicial system workers with the resources 
they need to work with and understand FASD-affected individuals when 
they encounter them in health care settings or the court system.
  All of these unfortunate statistics compel me to join with my 
colleagues to offer a comprehensive approaching to preventing FASD, 
advancing research to learn more about FASD, and increasing provision 
of services to those living with FASD and their families. While we have 
increased awareness about the dangers of consuming alcohol during 
pregnancy, we clearly have much more work to do as we strive to reach 
the goal of eliminating the negative effects of prenatal alcohol 
exposure.
  In my home State of South Dakota, we have had great successes in 
working on this issue. With the leadership of the health professionals 
at our esteemed universities, parents, and teachers, among countless 
others, we have made some important progress in addressing FASD. This 
legislation will bolster the efforts of these dedicated South Dakotans 
and many others across the country who are working hard to prevent FASD 
and support the children and families living with its consequences.
  This bill will provide much needed support in the areas of research 
and prevention. This legislation requires the National Institutes of 
Health to develop a research agenda focusing on the most promising 
avenues research in diagnosis, intervention, and prevention, as well as 
factors that may mitigate the effects of fetal alcohol exposure.
  This bill will also make available grants to federally qualified 
health centers to implement and evaluate programs to increase awareness 
and identification of FASD in those settings.
  Participating health centers will be able to provide training to 
health care providers on identifying and educating women who are at 
risk for alcohol consumption during pregnancy and on screening children 
for FASD.
  Another provision in this bill will create public awareness and 
education campaigns in at-risk areas in order to further the prevention 
of this disease. This bill will authorize the development and broadcast 
of national public service announcements to raise public awareness of 
the risks associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
  Recognizing that the consequences of FASD are not just health-
related, the bill promotes prevention, intervention and services within 
the education and judicial systems. This legislation provides teachers 
with resources to educate and support children with FASD. The bill 
seeks to involve everyone who might encounter an FASD-affected person 
in the judicial system, including judges, attorneys, probation 
officers, law enforcement officers, and many others, and works to train 
them in communicating with and supporting individuals with FASD.
  Again, I am so pleased to be introducing this bill with my colleagues 
and encourage all of our colleagues to consider supporting this bill. I 
would also like to take a moment to thank Senator Daschle for his 
leadership on FASD. His commitment to combating this illness is still 
present in South Dakota and in the lives of those who battle FASD every 
day.
                                 ______