Chadwick Steve: Motions — Food Standards—Folic Acid in Bread 
Chadwick Steve: Motions — Food Standards—Folic Acid in Bread 
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Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 I congratulate the previous speaker and previous Minister of Health the Hon Ruth Dyson on bringing such a reasoned approach and sensible and empirically driven points to the House today. I also congratulate my Labour colleagues who made one more attempt to bring this disallowance motion to the House and Moana Mackay on moving the motion in the House today. 
This is a very very sad day and many parents of New Zealand are very very saddened by the National Government’s political decision on this disallowance motion. 
I congratulate the New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders which is concerned with children born with terrible disorders—sometimes overwhelming disorders—with which they have to live their lives. That organisation brings to the House and to members of Parliament research that develops methods of prevention treatment and cure for those families who are living with genetic and other rare disorders. I congratulate the organisation on taking this issue of folate to the Regulations Review Committee and making another attempt to convince the National-led Government that its process here is having an impact on up to 30 babies every year who are born with neural tube defects. Government members over there do not care and I am amazed because Professor Fiona Stanley the Australian of the Year said that this is the one preventable rare disorder where we do not have to resort to termination of pregnancy and which we can prevent by simply adding back to bread folate that has been milled out in the manufacturing process. 
Annette King picked up this issue when she was the Minister of Health. At that time we had cross-party support. The Greens had a reserved position because they wanted the option of non-fortified bread but it was actually Dr Paul Hutchison of National who wrote several opinion pieces and convinced the then Opposition spokesperson for health that fortification of bread with folate was something that National should support. But since agreeing to the food standard promulgated by Minister Annette King in 2007 the current Minister for Food Safety in New Zealand Minister Kate Wilkinson has changed her mind. She instructed the select committee that was set up to act against the Labour members to get this issue off the Order Paper quickly and get it out of the way quickly as it was an embarrassment to the New Zealand Government. 
We are the one country that has reneged on our international agreement; even Iraq Iran and Yemen last year fortified bread. Look at New Zealand. We are still delaying the fortification of bread with folate and have as the resulting impact up to 30 babies every year born with neural tube defects. I was a midwife who assisted with over 5000 deliveries. I think those in the House who are speaking after hearing evidence have no idea what it is like for sufferers of neural tube defects and their families. 
If we apply a very pure economic model of avoided costs for urology neurology orthotics and special education services—let alone taking into consideration the suffering of individuals with neural tube defects and their families who are responsible for raising those children in New Zealand today at a time of cost-cutting by the National Government of disability services—we see that the health costs alone are an argument for putting back the mandatory fortification of folate into our flour. This delay is unacceptable. 
We certainly support this disallowance motion in the House today. I remind members who said that the Regulations Review Committee was purely about process that politicians were voted to come into the House to make bold decisions and not to hide behind process. Politicians on that select committee had yet another opportunity to make a brave decision to help up to 30 babies born in New Zealand every year with neural tube defects. Those in Government did not take that opportunity and they hide behind process today. I congratulate Labour members on their strong stance on this disallowance motion.