Pregnancy: Neural Tube Defects Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Patel
Main Page: Lord Patel (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Patel's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(9 years ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, I do not think that what the noble Lord has said is entirely correct. My honourable friend Jane Ellison received a letter from the SACN, the committee on nutrition, on 20 October that indicated that many more women were below the foliate level than had previously been thought. That evidence is quite new and came in at the end of October. That is what she is now considering.
My Lords, the Minister has said that he is against mass medication. Do we really think that this is mass medication? We are talking about adding to flour micro amounts of nutrition that is lacking, to give a choice to people: if they intend to get pregnant, they eat bread made from that flour and not unfortified flour.
Just to correct the noble Lord. I did not say that I was against mass medication; I said that it was one of the things that should be considered. It is also worth saying that, even if there was mass medication, it probably would affect between 15% and 30% of women who have babies with neural tube defects and not all women.