The adding of folic acid to bread is not new in some states. In an address given in front of my Remembrance Field of Flanders poppies amongst wheat in 1999 the Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Force, Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. John Pearn stated that wheat and bread were amongst the staples of life and at that time spoke of the need to add folic acid to bread flour.
Only in the past week has it also been brought to my attention that Iodised salt is now also being added to bread flour. Until five years ago there was a residue of iodine in milk due to it being included in the detergent used to wash milking machines. Iodine supplements are now recommended for pregnant women as a lack of iodine in the diet can lead to cretinism - common in Tibet where families usually only have access to rock salt lacking in iodine. Personally I have never needed to supplement my diet, but consider the addition of either folic acid or iodine to bread flour can only be of overall benefit to unborn children.

I was discussing the requirement for iodine with my B Sc daughter, just the other day. She had no idea of the requirement in her 2 under 3 year old kid's diet.

There are so many things that I just know. I can only assume some teacher, in my past, taught me all these quite important things.

So thank you, all my old teachers. For all of us old f4rts, who just know, please be aware, your kids are much less likely to know, than we are. We may have to do the teaching that our education systems no longer do for us.

That is a good idea, as is the fortifying of some foods, for those who are unlikely to have someone to teach them. Some times our pollise get it right.

"A heavy handed approach" would be more fitting if applied to the 2nd and 3rd to final paragraphs. If murdering an unborn child is not "heavy handed," I don't know what is.
The author skipped a few key facts from the International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. Understandable, as they would probably have undermined his entire arguement. For example, from the IFSBH website:
"If parents do not seek out more correct information themselves, most (90%) of them follow the doctor's advice. This is not necessarily a free choice because - if an impairment is detected - termination of pregnancy is often offered as a standard procedure. Parents are intimidated by the negative prognosis where the life of people with impairments is reduced to its medical limits.

"Experience shows that when future parents get non-judgmental counselling with access to the full range of issues relating to Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, most are willing to fight for a optimal quality of life for their child. Two examples: in the United States some parents try to improve the medical outcome of their unborn child with Spina Bifida by foetal surgery in the womb. In Queensland correct counselling, including correct and balanced information, proves that the majority of the parents choose to continue the pregnancy."

You're a parent who was just told something along the lines of "Sorry, your beautiful baby is going to be disabled and live a horrible painful, expensive life until they die a horrible, painful death. We'll just take care of it now, and you'll be on your way. Try again later." I'd be pretty scared, too.
But give them time to settle down, soak it in; give them access to proper counselling, and suddenly the whole world changes.

Growing up, I had several friends with Spina Bifida, including two of my best friends, and my girlfriend. All were wonderful, caring, "productive" people. The world would be such a miserable place without people who are different. Who wants to live in a world of perfect little clones, all healthy, blonde haired, blue eyed, marching lock-step to do their duties...

All the additives in our bread is making me sick! When I have a sandwich made of "conventional" supermarket bought bread I feel physically ill - my energy levels plummet and I get light headed. If I eat home made bread or that which is labelled organic which means is required to be free of additives I suffer no ill effects. One must ask if such "social manipulation" is good health practice for the entire community - or is it just for the targetted few that the rest must suffer?

Helen, Rosemary Stanton (and indeed yourself) should know that it is not necessary to consume the recommended daily allowance of folate to offer protection from spina bifida. Governments get into mass medication of populations, because the cost to Government and society of not taking action is huge. Society has to bear a considerable part the cost of looking after a spina bifida child and the cost of that child (and frequently their parents) not being able to contribute to society.

In the same way that society has to pick up the extra costs of tooth decay and of epidemics. Governments manage these risks with fluoridation and vaccination – two other areas of medication where I see you are happy to spread misinformation.

Yes, as you say most cases of spina bifida in Australia are detected early and many are aborted. If adding folic acid to bread reduced the incidence of the condition and thereby the number of children aborted, I would suggest that is a good thing. Wouldn’t you?

While Folate is one of the B Group vitamins, and natural Folate is present in many foods and is regarded as an essential vitamin, the Australian Government has decided to Mandate the “fortification” of all conventional flours destined for bread making purposes with a synthetic version of Folate, being Folic Acid. Not only will bread contain it but fancy and sweet breads and rolls, bagels, foccacia, English muffins, croissants, donuts and flat breads (containing yeast). Millers say they cannot guarantee how much synthetic Folic Acid will end up in each loaf of bread or flour product.

While there are known health benefits associated with consumption of Folate, researchers are now finding an increasing number of adverse outcomes being associated with additional Folic Acid consumption.

Breakfast cereals are fortified with synthetic Folic Acid. Two WeetBix or 30g of cereal (a very small amount) contain 50% of RDI. If you also eat two slices of toast or a croissant your RDI has been reached. Eating anything beyond that will put you in excess of the upper level intake for Folic Acid. Choice website has a daily dietary folate intake calculator. Now that Millers are forced to put Folic Acid in bread making flour, a normal daily diet will put children, teenagers, males, and post-menopausal women way over the RDI for Folic Acid (and that’s not including taking a vitamin pill with folic acid).

Children between 2 and 4 years, the elderly, those with cancer and the precursors of cancer, persons taking medication for neurological problems, and the offspring of women over-supplemented with Folic Acid all face an increased degree of risk of adverse outcomes. Thus millions of Australians will face the risk of adverse health outcomes.

There are a plethora of overseas studies highlighting that Folic Acid wields a “double-edged sword” and there are risks associated with it. I am not reassured by Australian authorities who suggest that such risks are minimal or non-existent.

One would have to conclude, in light of the latest knowledge about the downsides of Folic Acid fortification, that the risks outweigh the benefits.

A search of PubMed identifies very few examples of adverse health outcomes from folic acid consumption.

The main one is folic acid masking Vitamin B12 deficiency. Even this is very rarely seen and is more of a theoretical adverse health effect. There is not an increase in impacts of Vitamin B12 deficiency in Canada or the US, despite folic acid supplementation. The second was two examples of patients where folic acid supplementation interacted with anti-folate chemotherapy drugs.

There are simply not a plethora of overseas studies of adverse health impacts from folic acid unless you count uncorroborated anecdotes on alternative medicine websites. Indeed, it would seem the very obvious and substantial risks from folic acid deficiency are far greater than the very minor risks of too much folic acid.