POLL: NBR readers respond to bread fortification

Caleb Allison
Tue, 17 Jul 2012

NBR ONLINE readers are overwhelmingly opposed to the compulsory addition of folic acid to bread.

In a poll conducted last week, 69% said they were against the proposal, while 31% were for it.

The government put aside plans to make fortification mandatory in 2008, but is now reconsidering introducing it.

Advocates of the additive claim the voluntary use of folic acid by bakers had resulted in fewer babies being born with neural tube defects.

The Paediatric Society says it would also prevent as many as 124 deaths from strokes a year.

However, Oxford University professor David Smith says the increased folic acid would put 10% of New Zealanders at increased risk of cancer.

Caleb Allison
Tue, 17 Jul 2012