[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 13, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E78]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COMMEMORATING NATIONAL FOLIC ACID AWARENESS WEEK

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                           HON. PETE SESSIONS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 13, 2009

  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the observance 
of America's annual National Folic Acid Awareness Week, which began on 
January 5, 2009.
  It is my hope that this awareness week gives the Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) further awareness to reduce the prevalence of 
preventable serious birth defects in women of childbearing age across 
all segments of our population. Enriched cereals and grain products are 
fortified with the B-vitamin folic acid, but only one-third of U.S. 
women of childbearing age consume the scientifically recommended daily 
amount. Folic acid, a B-vitamin, is particularly critical for proper 
cell growth and has been scientifically proven to prevent birth defects 
of the brain and spine, called Neural Tube Defects (NTD).
  Women especially need folic acid, even if not planning to become 
pregnant since 50 percent of all pregnancies are unplanned. Consuming 
the recommended amount of folic acid each day before pregnancy can 
reduce the risk of a birth defect of the brain and spine by seventy 
percent. The prevalence rates of NTDs has declined by 27 percent since 
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's mandatory addition of folic 
acid to enriched grain products in 1998. Even with this improvement in 
the reduction in the Neutral Tube Disorders of Spina Bifida and 
Anencephaly birth defect births, there still are 3,000 babies born each 
year with serious birth defects, and an estimated 5,000 that die from a 
serious birth defect.
  Since 1998, over 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies have been 
published and been reviewed by a distinguished group of leading birth 
defect scientists and researchers. These individuals concluded that 
more folic acid to already fortified enriched grain products, and folic 
acid to corn-based products, is important to our country's public 
health and should be examined by the DFA. In 2006, the Congressional 
Spina Bifida Caucus petitioned the FDA for review and the FDA refused 
the request, saying there was not enough science to merit the agency's 
review.
  A recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) study, published in 
December of 2008, the agency found that only 21 percent of Hispanic 
women of childbearing age are consuming the recommended amount of folic 
acid to effectively prevent serious birth defect births, compared with 
40 percent of Caucasian women. Hispanic babies are 1.5 to 2 times more 
likely than other children in the U.S. to be born with a neural tube 
defect (NTD). The CDC reports that Hispanics across the United States 
consume the least amount of folic acid, and have the least knowledge 
about the role that folic acid plays in preventing a serious birth 
defect birth among all racial or ethnic groups in our country. This 
leads to an important goal of National Folic Acid Awareness Week, 
education. Birth defect prevention education is alarmingly low, so 
public education is essential. Surveys since 1998 have found that only 
24 percent of women know that folic acid helps prevent birth defects. 
Of those who do know, only 40 percent know how much should be taken 
every day. Over ten years, public education efforts on the parts of the 
CDC, various birth defect prevention groups, and State and federal 
prevention awareness programs have been a great start in informing 
women of the necessity of folic acid during childbearing years, but we 
still have our work cut out for us.
  I would like to recognize the National Folic Acid Awareness Week and 
increase public awareness of the need for all women of childbearing age 
to get the recommended amount of folic acid each day. A continued 
effort on all fronts is necessary, I encourage the FDA to look at the 
research and consider adding more folic acid to enriched grain products 
and corn-based products.
  I will be reintroducing a resolution calling for this action and I 
ask my colleagues to join me in this education effort.

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