Is the UK government’s recent mandate to fortify non-wholemeal wheat flour with synthetic folic acid a sound public health initiative or a danger to public health and violation of medical ethics and informed consent?
In this episode of the UK Medical Freedom Alliance (UKMFA) Medical Ethics Report, host Ian Humphreys is joined by Dr Liz Evans (CEO of UKMFA) and Dr Ros Jones (retired paediatrician and co-chair of HART).
The panel discuss the UKMFA and HART Open Letter sent on 26th June to James Murray, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which highlighted serious risks faced by the public from a recent change to UK law requiring the mandatory fortification of non-wholemeal flour with synthetic folic acid, and urged him to repeal the amendment.
Dr Evans and Dr Jones go on to analyse the woeful response they received on 24th July from the Department of Health & Social Care’s (DHSC) “Correspondence Officer”. A response that failed to meaningfully address a single point made in the UKMFA/HART letter or any of our concerns, but that just reiterated their argument that the policy will reduce Neural Tube Defects (NTDs) and improve folate status in the population. And claiming that evidence reviews and modelling studies have established appropriate levels and safety and that people can avoid ingestion of folic acid if they choose wholemeal flour products.
This wide-ranging and informative discussion covers the historical context of food regulation and the many ramifications of the new law including:
Health risks to specific vulnerable groups
The lack of informed consent when adding a synthetic drug to a staple food
Potential dangers of mass-medicating the population, who have different susceptibilities to the side-effects of synthetic folic acid, some even warned by the NHS not to take folic acid
The inadequate and flawed safety studies
The inability to control the individual dose of folic acid depending on individual diet, which will lead to dramatic differences in intake across the population.
Dr Jones and Dr Evans highlight the need to raise public awareness of this policy, urging listeners to educate themselves and others and to take action.
New UKMFA Campaign - Protect Our Daily Bread
UKMFA have launched a new campaign called Protect Our Daily Bread - No Fortification of Flour.
Please visit our campaign page on which you will find a lot of information including; links to the joint open letter and Government response, an excellent and informative series of HART articles covering every aspect of the folic acid issue, podcast interviews, and the link to a Government Petition authored by Dr Clare Craig “End the mandatory fortification of white flour with folic acid immediately” which we are urging everyone to sign and share widely.
The petition currently has over 43,000 signatures so has forced a Government written response, which you can read on the petition page. We need to get this to 100,000 signatures to force a Parliamentary debate.
Video Chapters
00:00 - Preview: Risk vs. Benefit of Folic Acid
00:36 - Welcome & Introduction to UKMFA
01:04 - Guest Introductions: Dr Liz Evans & Dr Ros Jones
01:28 - UKMFA/HART Open Letter to James Murray, DHSC Secretary of State
02:53 - The UK Mandate on Flour Fortification Explained
04:12 - Difference Between Natural Folate and Synthetic Folic Acid
05:39 - Legal & Historical Context of Bread & Flour Regulations
07:00 - Clinical Trial Evidence & Risk Breakdown
11:00 - NHS Guidelines: Who Should Avoid Folic Acid?
12:42 - Practical Challenges for Consumers & Eating Out
14:20 - Unmetabolized Folic Acid & MTHFR Genetic Variants
17:42 - Reviewing the DHSC Government Response Letter
24:00 - Potential Health Risks, Cancer Data & Global Trends
28:50 - Campaign Actions: Parliamentary Petition & Writing to MPs
34:40 - Summary & Final Remarks
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