Mr. Speaker, bringing to the attention of the House the plight of lesser known diseases is neither exciting nor titillating, but the tragedies they leave in their wake are real.
This is Spina Bifida Week in Canada. This illness occurs within the first four weeks of pregnancy and causes various levels of permanent nerve damage and lower limb paralysis. One in every 750 children born in Canada has spina bifida.
We now know that giving folic acid to a woman during early pregnancy can reduce the risk of spina bifida in the fetus. The Spina Bifida Association would like to raise awareness of the benefits of folic acid among women of child bearing age and among the population in general.
In 1994-95 Health Canada contributed $55,000 to assist the national level of the Spina Bifida Association of Canada in its many developmental, promotional and service activities across the country.
I congratulate the Spina Bifida Association and its many volunteers for their quiet but excellent work, and ask members to join me-