Lucille Roybal-Allard: “every year in the United States, thousands of babies are born with serious, preventable birth defects of the brain and…”

“every year in the United States, thousands of babies are born with serious, preventable birth defects of the brain and spine. Spina bifida, the most common neural tube defect, is the leading cause of childhood paralysis. Anencephaly, a neural tube defect of the brain, is always fatal. To bring attention to this preventable tragedy, we highlighted National Folic Acid Awareness Week as part of January's National Birth Defects Prevention Month. Since we were not in session at the time, I will take this opportunity to focus on the public health significance of folic acid and the important role it plays in the prevention of these devastating neural tube birth defects. The value of folic acid became clear in 1991 when absolute scientific evidence showed that a daily supplement of synthetic folic acid could prevent spina bifida and anencephaly in most pregnancies. In 1992, the finding led the United States Public Health Service to recommend that women, beginning at puberty and continuing through their childbearing years, take a daily dose of 400 micrograms of folic acid. It was in response to the Public Health Service recommendation that I authored the Folic Acid Promotion and Birth Defects Prevention Act. This act authorized the CDC to develop programs to educate health professionals and the public about the importance of folic acid consumption. I am very pleased that this bill became law as part of the Children's Health Act of 2000.…”