IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 202 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Commissioner 
of Food and Drugs should evaluate the scientific evidence on the question 
of whether to add more folic acid to enriched grain products and expand 
folic acid fortification into cornmeal and corn-based food products to 
help prevent further serious birth defects. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2009 
Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. PENCE, and Mr. BURTON of Indiana) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the Commissioner of Food and Drugs should evaluate 
the scientific evidence on the question of whether to 
add more folic acid to enriched grain products and ex-
pand folic acid fortification into cornmeal and corn-based 
food products to help prevent further serious birth de-
fects. 
Whereas under section 401 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341), standards of identity de-
fine what a given food product is and the ingredients that 
must be used; 
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•HRES 202 IH 
Whereas a standard of identity for folic acid fortification for 
enriched grain food products has been promulgated; 
Whereas the Food and Drug Administration (‘‘FDA’’) adopt-
ed the current folic acid enriched grain food fortification 
standard of identity in 1998, based on the best available 
scientific evidence, and newer scientific studies have 
shown that the current fortification level is not effectively 
reducing the prevalence of preventable serious birth de-
fects; 
Whereas the scientific consensus is that 70 to 76 percent of 
serious birth-defect births are preventable if women of 
childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of folic acid 
per day, and a higher level of folic acid fortification can 
help prevent heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, 
and some cancers in men and women; 
Whereas since the FDA adopted the current folic acid for-
tification standard of identity, many peer-reviewed sci-
entific studies have been published and have been re-
viewed by a distinguished group of leading birth-defect 
scientists and researchers; 
Whereas these scientists and researchers have concluded that 
the question of whether to add more folic acid to fortified 
grains and to corn-based products is too important to 
public health to remain unexamined by the FDA; 
Whereas studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention have shown that 60 percent of women are not 
taking supplements to increase their folic acid intake; 
Whereas birth-defect prevention education remains alarm-
ingly low; 
Whereas surveys since 1998 have found that only 24 percent 
of women of child-bearing age know that folic acid helps 
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•HRES 202 IH 
prevent a birth-defect birth and that, among those who 
do know, only 40 percent know that 400 micrograms 
should be consumed every day; and 
Whereas the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of 
Pediatrics, the United States Public Health Service, the 
March of Dimes, the Spina Bifida Association, and other 
groups have recommended that the FDA revise the cur-
rent standard on folic acid enriched grain to reflect the 
new scientific evidence: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Commissioner of Food and Drugs 
should evaluate the scientific evidence on the question of 
whether to add more folic acid to enriched grain products 
and expand folic acid fortification into cornmeal and corn- 
based food products to help prevent further serious birth 
defects. 
Æ 
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