Ron Seymour 2009-09-11 Kelowna Courier:
Bar owners who don‘t post warnings about fetal alcohol syndrome should be fined more than $50, Kelowna council will hear Monday. The current fine doesn‘t provide much of an incentive for pub and club owners to alert women to the hazards of drinking while pregnant, members of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder awareness group say. “I would request council review the fine and perhaps adjust it to more accurately reflect the seriousness of FASD and its impact on our community,” group spokesman Brad Penner writes in a letter to city council.
The City of Kamloops provides for a maximum fine of $10,000 to owners of licenced premises who don‘t put up FASD warnings, and Burnaby‘s maximum fine is $2,000; however, City of Kelowna staff say they don‘t believe there‘s a need to raise the fine locally. While some bar owners may not be aware that they have to put up FASD notices, there has been “no resistance” from them when told by bylaw officers of their responsibility to do so, city clerk Stephen Fleming says.
Children whose mothers drank alcohol when they were pregnant are at a high risk of suffering a broad range of mental, social and emotional disorders. “Ninety per cent of them have mental health problems, 60 per cent leave school early, 50 per cent have their own alcohol or drug problems, and 80 per cent have problems with employment,” Pat Richards, an expert on the disorder, said at an FASD awareness event in Kelowna in 2005. A typical 20-year-old with FASD has the comprehension skills of a six-year-old, the social skills of a seven-year-old, and the daily living skills of an 11-year-old, Richardson said. Their abilities may not progress much beyond these levels as they grow older. Nine of every 1,000 Canadian babies are born with the condition.
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