[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FOLIC ACID AWARENESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Campbell of California). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Roybal-Allard) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, every year in the United States, 
thousands of babies are born with serious, preventable birth defects of 
the brain and spine.
  Spina bifida, the most common neural tube defect, is the leading 
cause of childhood paralysis. Anencephaly, a neural tube defect of the 
brain, is always fatal.
  To bring attention to this preventable tragedy, we highlighted 
National Folic Acid Awareness Week as part of January's National Birth 
Defects Prevention Month. Since we were not in session at the time, I 
will take this opportunity to focus on the public health significance 
of folic acid and the important role it plays in the prevention of 
these devastating neural tube birth defects.
  The value of folic acid became clear in 1991 when absolute scientific 
evidence showed that a daily supplement of synthetic folic acid could 
prevent spina bifida and anencephaly in most pregnancies. In 1992, the 
finding led the United States Public Health Service to recommend that 
women, beginning at puberty and continuing through their childbearing 
years, take a daily dose of 400 micrograms of folic acid.
  It was in response to the Public Health Service recommendation that I 
authored the Folic Acid Promotion and Birth Defects Prevention Act. 
This act authorized the CDC to develop programs to educate health 
professionals and the public about the importance of folic acid 
consumption. I am very pleased that this bill became law as part of the 
Children's Health Act of 2000.
  The Food and Drug Administration also responded to the need to 
increase consumption in the general population by requiring the 
addition of folic acid to enriched grain products like bread and 
cereal. It is important to note, however, that new evidence has found 
that the current fortification level of grains is not adequate for full 
protection against birth defects. Nevertheless, over the past 10 years, 
our efforts have succeeded in increasing the consumption of folic acid. 
This has resulted in a considerable decline in the rate of spina bifida 
and anencephaly.
  The fact remains, however, that last year approximately 3,000 babies 
in the United States were born with preventable neural tube defects. 
Recent studies show that despite our efforts, only 40 percent of women 
ages 18 to 45 take a daily vitamin with the recommended level of folic 
acid. And Latino women, who have almost double the likelihood of 
delivering a baby with a neural tube defect, have the lowest reported 
folic acid consumption of any racial or ethnic group.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt we have considerable work ahead of us 
in order to adequately protect our newborn babies from preventable 
neural tube birth defects. It is therefore our duty and our obligation 
to, first, increase our efforts to inform all women of childbearing age 
of the essential role folic acid plays in protecting their babies from 
spina bifida and anencephaly; second, to increase the required 
concentration of folic acid in enriched grain products as recommended 
by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the March of Dimes.
  And, finally, it is our duty and our obligation to encourage 
manufacturers to fortify cornmeal products with amounts of folic acid 
that meet the FDA requirements. This recommendation is especially 
critical to our Latino communities, which consume large amounts of the 
unfortified corn flour sold in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, we have the knowledge and the ability to prevent the 
majority of neural tube defects in this country. It will be a tragedy 
if we choose to ignore this compelling public health challenge.
  I urge my colleagues to work with me in the 109th Congress to support 
policies that enrich our foods with sufficient folic acid and to 
strengthen CDC's national folic acid education campaign. By working 
together, we can and will save thousands of babies and families from 
the suffering and the pain of neural tube defects.

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