Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to this problem. I am also pleased that all three parties of the House agree on this issue.
For the last 15 years it has been an issue with which I have been involved as a physician, as an advocate for my patients and as a member of the British Columbia Medical Association lobbying to change public policy.
Canadians from all walks of life in every region have been concerned over the years about alcohol consumption and especially about the abuse of alcohol, not only its effects on society but its effects on the health of individuals. Canadians have always looked to governments to reduce the risks associated with this drug.
These concerns have taken various forms at different times. In the 1980s the major concern was drinking and driving. Governments have acted at the provincial level and at the federal level to take into consideration this issue. The companies that make and market alcohol have been fairly responsible with respect to drinking and driving. Together we have managed to see in this decade that the issue of drinking and driving has begun to take root in the minds of the public and in the minds of the young people who are the most affected.
More recently the major alcohol related concern has shifted to foetal alcohol syndrome and foetal alcohol effect. A parliamentary committee reviewed this topic in great detail and came down with a large number of recommendations, not the least of which was labelling. This was a stakeholder conference. There were three conferences in a row. At the conference were makers and marketers of alcohol who basically had a sense of responsibility toward the issue, although they did not seem interested in going as far as the labelling issue.
FAS is foetal alcohol syndrome, a medical diagnosis that refers to a set of alcohol related disabilities associated with the use of alcohol during pregnancy. It is used to describe a set of physical, mental and behavioural changes in young children who have been born with this syndrome.
Exposure of the foetus to alcohol has a great deal of effect specifically on the foetal brain and brain tissue. It is because of this that we see foetal alcohol syndrome. Different levels of drinking can produce foetal alcohol syndrome. Lower levels of drinking can produce foetal alcohol effect, which is not as full blown a syndrome in that there are not usually physical disabilities associated with it, but the behavioural components are clear.
There are some surveys and information now that are leading us to believe that a lot of people who exhibit anti-social behaviour, who have behavioural problems in school and who fill many of the jails in this country have foetal alcohol effect. We can curb this problem and stop it. It is preventable. One or three in every one thousand children in industrialized countries has foetal alcohol syndrome or foetal alcohol effect. This is a terrible issue that we must deal with.
This is not the only thing I want to talk about because I do not want people to believe that here we are again hitting on any particular social enjoyment we all have. Alcohol is not, unlike tobacco, a dangerous drug if taken according to instructions. We now know there is a level of hazardous drinking that results in the acute effects we see in terms of drinking and driving or using machinery or acts of violence when one is acutely drunk. There is also a certain level of hazardous drinking if done over a period of time. It can lead to hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver and some alcohol induced psychosis in the long term.
We are talking about a drug that has an effect on humans and on the health status of humans. It is time we did something about it, specifically because alcohol is such a socially acceptable drug and specifically because it is a substance we can use appropriately and enjoy in a way that is not dangerous, except of course with the one exception, when one is pregnant. A pregnant woman should not have any alcohol whatsoever.
What we are talking about is a substance we could make safe. How do we make anything safe? When we buy antihistamines across the counter there is a warning not to drink alcohol while taking them; do not operate machinery. On a bottle of Draino there is a warning not to ingest it internally. We know certain things are hazardous when used inappropriately.
Alcohol lends itself specifically to labelling because it is a way we can send a clear message that tells everyone they can use this substance in a safe way or in an unsafe way, and these are the unsafe ways. Warnings on products lead to their safe use. That is what we are talking about.
Health Canada spends a great deal of money on programs for native people and the Inuit people especially, community based programs, to support parents and children who have FAS and FAE.
We also have lots of programs that deal, as any healthy public policy should, with education and awareness because public awareness is the key. We cannot say someone is doing something wrong when they do not have any knowledge it is wrong. Therefore public awareness is the key and this is where labelling comes in.
Labelling clearly says do and do not. It gives a clear, defined parameter within which to work in a safe way to use a substance as in the case of alcohol. While we see that there are a lot of remedial services and support programs, and while we are at the moment increasing awareness and doing education programs in the schools and in communities, working at all levels, federal governments, provincial governments and community based groups are all working hard to stop the abuse of alcohol and the inappropriate use of alcohol.
We have not used one tool sitting in our little box of tools. Many people have said this will be expensive. I do not understand why this will be any more expensive because the alcohol industry, in order to export alcohol to the United States, must put a label that warns of the dangers of alcohol because labelling is mandatory in the United States. Yet we have on one side of a room a whole lot of bottles sitting there with no labels. People are are busy sticking labels on them just to send them across the border.
Are the children in the United States any less important than our children? I say no. This is not a major burden we will be putting on the alcohol industry. It is an industry that has shown to be very supportive and very accountable in terms of how it deals with alcohol.
I am pleased the member brought this to the fore because it is an opportunity for us to talk about this issue. Doubters say look at what happened with the tobacco industry. The Supreme Court ruled we should not ban advertising and sponsorship because we have not proven it will make a difference to youth. Whenever members talk to manufacturers and to advertising agencies they always say package labelling confers a great deal of information about the product, and that manufacturers use labels to send us many messages about the image of their product.
If one wants to buy detergent it has to be the kind of detergent that speaks of grandma using it; a nice clean wash with sea breezes blowing through it, one that smells good with lemon and lime and all these things. We always use images to sell our product. Soup labels convey the down home quality. It is always something hearty and the sort of thing we were used to in the old days.
We talk about cigarette manufacturers. They have brought this to a fine art. They are the most expert at turning a product. They talk about youth and vigour. They show how many friends one can make if one smokes. They show how socially acceptable one will be, how great at sport, how wonderful a lifestyle one will gain from smoking.
What is crucial here is the recognition that in many areas no distinction can be drawn between the product as conceived by the maker and the packaging. The product and the packaging are almost the same. That is why manufacturers are often so very resistant to labelling or to putting anything on their product that says the product is not as good as it should be.
I hope everyone here will support the bill. We support it very strongly at Health Canada. We believe if we are ever to prevent the preventable diseases that create a great deal of tragedy in our lives, this is one sure step. We are already half way there. We do it for the United States. Let us do it for Canada.