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Say NO to Enforced Mass Medication

gmfreeman | 06.04.2006 16:40 | Health | Social Struggles

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) wants to have all bread compulsorily "fortified" with folic acid - this would be enforced mass medication.

For several years the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been discussing the compulsory adding of folic acid to bread, allegedly to prevent "birth defects".

Now, it seems they want to go ahead and force everyone to eat bread with added folic acid.

They claim that there will be a "consultation", but anyone who remembers the FSA "debate" on GM food will know that they have already decided on the outcome...

The arguments against compulsorily adding folic acid are:

* People should be able to make a choice about whether they eat products with added folic acid or not

* People who want to consume additional folic acid can do so through food supplements or by eating natural foods containing folic acid

* There should be no "enforced mass medication" - adding folic acid can be compared with the proposed fluoridation of water - in both cases there are dubious "benefits" and well-known side-effects

* Enforced mass medication is a violation of our human rights

* The "target group" for this is a small percentage of the population: pregnant mothers

* Excessive folic acid masks vitamin B12 deficiency in older people

* This time they want to add folic acid. What will it be next time? Soma? ( see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(Huxley) )

Say NO to enforced mass medication, reject this proposal.

Tell these people that you don't want added folic acid in your bread:

Food Standards Agency

John Harwood, Chief Executive

john.harwood@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Gill Fine, Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health

gill.fine@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Richard Harding, Head of the FSA’s Consumer Choice, Food Standards and Special Projects Division

richard.harding@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Tell the Food Standards Agency that you don't want "mass medication" of the food supply.

Your MP

http://www.writetothem.com/ and

http://www.faxyourmp.com

Federation of Bakers

Gordon Poulson, Director

gordon.polson@bakersfederation.org.uk

Tell Gordon Poulson that you won't eat bread which contains "mass medication" in the form of added folic acid.

Reference

http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2006/apr/folatehealth

gmfreeman

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Get a grip

06.04.2006 23:24

To compare folic acid with floridisation is madness.

People have been consuming less and less folic acid as eating habbit have rejected fresh green leafy vegetables. While I would much rather that money was spent educating people about good diet and promoting fresh natural food, I certainly would not compare fortifying process foods with the forced floridisation of 'drinking' water.

ben

.

07.04.2006 00:15

"in both cases there are dubious "benefits" and well-known side-effects"

How about a bit of backup, are these dubious "benefits" a decreased risk of colon cancer, treament for asthma, arthritis and depression and what are these well know side effects that you are encouraging pregnant women to dice with?

Side effects of folic acid

07.04.2006 09:35

Here's more info about the side effects of folic acid:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/health/1977752.stm

In summary: taking more folic acid (in "fortified" food or in the form of supplements) masks vitamin B12 deficiency, which can be a cause of anaemia, in older people. Folic acid also inteferes with some anticonvulsants, which are drugs used to treat epilepsy.

Why should the health of the older population and epileptics be put at risk simply to provide some perceived "benefit" to a very small part of the population: pregnant mothers?

gmfreeman

d.i.y!

07.04.2006 10:31

perhaps those who see a problem with manufactured bread - and added folic acid should be the least of your worries - should learn the very simple skill of making your own bread?! Why buy what you can do yourself? cut out the capitalist middle-man!

loafer

It's easy to avoid fortified bread

07.04.2006 10:46

Either buy wholemeal (fortification only happens in white bread) or make your own. Job done.

Baker's Dozen

Just say No to bread

07.04.2006 11:43

Folic acid isn't even hallucinatory. Evo Morales is giving Bolivian schoolkids coca bread.

Danny

Lessons from the past

10.04.2006 21:23

Vitamin Research Newsletter - application/pdf 312K

This debate reminds me of a similar move back in the 50s by Swedish health officials to add vitamin D, by law, to all their dairy products.

Great idea! What could possibly be wrong with that?

Decades after, the Swedes have the highest levels of Osteoporosis in Europe. This is because it was later discovered that vitamin D can remove calcium from the bone.

http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/view.page.asp?I=436

All too late for thousand of Swedes that have to live in pain with the arrogance of some scientist decades ago.

Vitamin D and Osteoporosis - by Karen Kaufman, MS, CCN, and Jim English
Last month we examined a study that alleged that high levels of vitamin A are linked to an increased incidence
of osteoporosis in Swedish males.

Read the attached .pdf and link for further information.

The lesson is, meddling with medicine carries risks. Some too far off to be envisaged.

Let's spend the budget on getting the correct treatment to those pregnant mums.

Simon Johnson
mail e-mail: virtual3@mac.com
Homepage: http://web.mac.com/virtual3/iWeb/Simon%20Johnson%20Web%20Hole/Milan%20Rai.html

better targetting

10.04.2006 23:35

"Let's spend the budget on getting the correct treatment to those pregnant mums."

In Paisley you could add the folic acid to alcopops, that'd reach more young mothers. If you also added contraceptives that cure the need for folic acid. If you are worried about pregnant mums, how about doing something about testing existing additives in combination, or providing them with housing stock that's built for our climate. Let's increase the budget to meet all the real threats they face, and do away with the defence budget protecting them from imaginary risks.