A HEALTH PROMOTION PERSPECTIVE ON THE HOUSE-OF-COMMONS REPORT FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME - A PREVENTABLE TRAGEDY

The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is used as a conception framew ork to examine the recommendations concerning prevention in the House of Commons' Report ''Foetal Alcohol Syndrome: A Preventable Tragedy.'' Fetal alcohol syndrome cannot be separated from the complex social, p hysical and economic environments affecting alcohol consumption. For s ubstantial progress to be made in preventing this significant cause of mental handicap, it will be necessary to consider a wide range of pre ventive actions, beyond public education and mandatory warning labels on alcoholic beverages. A health promotion framework offers a comprehe nsive, intersectoral approach to this problem.