Bakers Confused By Minister’s Flip Flop

Bakers Confused By Minister’s Flip Flop
- Statement from NZ Bakers Association

A day after Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson all but accepted that the new folic acid food standard should go, she has now seized on an unpublished study as conclusive proof that her plan to mass-medicate every New Zealander is safe.

On TVNZ’s Close Up last night the Minister said she was now satisfied that the addition of folic acid to bread was “safe’’ despite earlier that same day admitting she had serious concerns.

The Minister’s bold statement on prime time television flies in the face of other evidence from international experts on folic acid and we think such categorical announcements at this stage in the research are unwise indeed, and could expose the Government to future embarrassment.

Her turnaround appears to follow statements by Proessor Murray Skeaff, of Otago University, regarding his attendance at a conference in Prague at which an as-yet unpublished pooled analysis of all the randomised control trials of folic acid to date were revealed.

We welcome the entrance of Professor Skeaff to the national debate on this important issue. However we note this respected academic has changed his mind from his previous view that “mandatory folic acid fortification would represent an uncontrolled clinical trial with all New Zealanders as participants”.

Professor Skeaff previously got to the nub of the whole issue being debated when he asked, in a research paper in 2003: “Preventing even one case of spina bifida is a priceless relief for the afflicted child or family, but is the prevention of four cases of spina bifida each year sufficient justification for accepting the risks of exposing four million people?”

The latest research simply muddies the waters and adds weight to our call that the Minister should delay the implementation of this standard until the New Zealand public trust that her desire to dose every loaf of bread is in their best interests.

But as the Minister knows full well health concerns are only one part of the concerns raised by the Bakers and New Zealanders over the last week.

Her plan to dose every loaf of bread simply to provide folic acid for pregnant women robs New Zealanders of freedom of choice and her own officials have confirmed to her that there will be “unknown effects” of such a widespread medication plan.

It’s the exactly the kind of nanny state intervention in their lives that many kiwis thought would change with the new Government.

Kate Wilkinson’s plan to dose every New Zealander is an experiment - an experiment that very few New Zealand voters want. We welcome the Minister’s continued commitment to a review of the standard but suggest it should take place before – not after – its implementation.

We believe her call for a review after folic acid is in bread is whitewash and unlikely to achieve anything. She has only one vote on a Ministerial Council dominated by Australian health Ministers.

Again we urge her to take the action she is mandated to do to protect the health of new Zealanders and at minimum delay implementation until she has more than one unpublished study.

ENDS

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