After twenty years of research internationally and seven years of debate in NZ, pressure from both experts and politicians (especially Kedgely and Hutchinson) a decision was made to put Vitamin B into bread.
It increases the cost of bread by about 25c/person year. 57 countries including the USA have mandatory fortification.
It stops some neural tube defects including spinda bifida. Without it babies die. About 40 a year are aborted. Those who live cost the health sector about $400,000 each $400,000 per year each.
The Prime Minister’s science advisor who is an expert in the area supports fortification and rejected ludicrous claims from Key that it causes cancer.
A wee bit of pressure from the grocery and bakers’ lobbyists (allegedly Carrick Graham and Mathew Hooton) and Key folded.
One of the responsibilities one has as a leader is to stand up against monied interests and for all New Zealanders including those yet to be born.
Key has failed this test.
I know there are a lot of post in this thread – but still attempting to get an answer to a basic question:
“If there are reports (stating that it may lead to an increase in cancer) – have they all been 100% discredited, and now there is a concencus in the scientific community that the addition of folic acid is 100% safe?”
bikerkiwi – you know you have asked the impossible ask. You can not absolutely prove a negative. It is the same story as GE corn – you can’t prove there is none there unless you test it all and once you have you have none left.
I’m prepared to go with Prof Dr Gluckman – Key’s science tsar who has led a lot of research in this area.
Going with the best evidence is a very good place to start.
Is bikerkiwi happy about the Iodine that is going into bread, is 100% safe- was supposed to be alongside vitamin B9- but the bakers decided that one mass medication was all right but another was not.
And think of the other chemicals they put into bread to allow it to keep longer, etc.
If it was really a problem the organic bread was available for those who demand the highest purity , and price
You are an idiot Mallard! (for those following the uneven moderation I’m letting this through because it is about me but if it was anyone else it would be deleted as personal abuse. Trevor)
I know you wont allow this be published but what the hell.
It is time you idiots woke up and genuinely listened to the NZ public after all and surprise surprise you work for us.
By the way where are the other 50 or so comments????
@ Mike see older comments link on left between post and comments
Trevor choice is still going to be available for females of a reproductive age, and quite rightly they should take the fortified bread. But to make a broad sweeping statements that the nats kill babies that is just plain wrong. If you are just so twisted and bitter just give it up and leave. I do not want to be forced into mass medication
Delivery boy read the post not blowhole’s interpretation.
Delivery Boy – everyone needs folate – not just pregnant women. It is critical in the development of healthy new cells. It is particularly important for women pre-conception and in the early stages of pregnancy. Given that most women dont plan their pregnancies and many dont even know they are pregnant until it’s to late to dose up on vitamin B9, telling them to just eat fortified bread or take supplements is redundant. This is why studie show that education campaigns dont work.
This is the re-adding of a vitamin that as an unintended consequence of processing is stripped out. It naturally occurs in wheat and many other foods but the average kiwi women only gets about half the recommended daily intake. The fortified bread will top this up and as the PM’s brand spanking new science adviser says, will decrease the incidence of congenital defects by two-thirds.
(BTW why appoint a science adviser to ensure good science is paramount in govt decision if you just ignore him?)
Trevor I have had a good look at your post and also have listened to many interviews like this http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Audio/AudioPlayer/tabid/183/Default.aspx?articleID=9888
Choice is the best way to go.
Eating 11 slices of bread per day surely will not help the obesity issues in NZ?
Moana says “It naturally occurs in wheat and many other foods”
So a balanced diet is best then and if vitamin b9 occurs in other foods why does all bread have to be regulated with folic acid?
Delivery boy – you would only have to eat 11 slices of bread a day if you literally ate nothing else. As I said in previous comment most women get half their daily intake from other foods and the fortified bread is a top up. This is why dietary studies have predicted fortification will result in a 2/3 reduction in congential defects (which prof Gluckman pointed out)
Moana I think the appointment of Dr Gluckman will be Key’s best appointment, but I think you and the Labour Party miss the point that that you can solicit advice but not necessary agree or act on that advice
Delivery boy – fair comment and I think Gluckman’s appt is a good idea but this is a bad start. Science needs to be more than a token gesture.
You are so right Moana.
With the appointment of a person of Gluckman’s stature, Key was in a perfect position to proceed with implementing the folate regulations.
It makes Gluckman’s role easy – his advice is expert but seems like it won’t get tested in situations where medical opinion is going one way and the extreme right wing is going the other!
Essentially this is the nanny state at work, pregnant mothers can’t be relied upon to take the supplements (apart from the fact many of them are not going to eat 11 slices of bread a day anyway). Now I think all compulsory fortification should be opposed. Not everyone has access to a breadmaker and we should get some choice about what goes into the food we eat, a lot of people do not have this because organic foods cost too much for them.
You refer to Kedgley, is that Sue of the Green Party who has put out a press releaase opposing it
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0907/S00132.htm
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the reports that it was safe weren’t yet peer reviewed and published? And there are still the reports that it could increase cancer to consider and some people even claim to be allergic to folate.
@Swampy thats the one.
@Spud – World Health Organisation is quite clear that the level of fortification NZ was looking at is entirely safe. No evidence of any negative health effects at all. There is 20 years of solid research behind this including the experience of the 57 other countries who already fortify. The most recent research I’ve seen is out of the UK and once again confirms this.
Prof Gluckman has reviewed the research and points out that the move would not significantly elevate folate levels beyond the norm in anybody and that the only suggestion of potential harm comes from work looking at CHRONIC doses of folate(20 to 50 times the levels we’re talking about).
I got a copy of the study re prostate cancer and it was rats that again were being dosed with extreme levels of folic acid – much higher than humans would ever consume. In fact most studies re cancer have been about the effect of high dose supplements, not fortification of flour.
[...] for those who get all yucky because it mentioned abortion, I’ll point out this post by a Labour MP basically stating John Key is responsible for increased abortions due to the folic acid in bread [...]
[...] Though I have to say the link between malformed fetuses and abortion [David Farrar (DPF) cited this post by Trevor Mallard on folic acid and abortions as an example of termination in political debate] is rather less [...]
Seems you were wrong. Abortions down to the lowest level since 2005:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/3823536/Abortion-numbers-drop