CCS calls for folic acid in bread

Published: 8:35AM Sunday July 02, 2006 Source: RNZ

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Disability support provider CCS says it would be public health malpractice if folic acid is not made a compulsory ingredient in bread.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand is putting the proposal out for public submissions this week.

Research shows neural tube defects in babies - which can lead to spina bifida - can be cut by up to 70% if women have extra folic acid before and during pregnancy.

Lyall Thurston, spokesperson for CCS, says in the last 15 years more than 700 children who could have benefited from the extra folic acid are in wheelchairs.

Thurston says it would not be harmful to expose the entire population to the extra folic acid, and CCS will be making a number of submissions.

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