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Dear [Insert MP Name],
I am writing to you as your constituent living at [Insert Your Full Address & Postcode] to raise an urgent issue concerning our food supply and medical choice. On 13 December 2026, the Bread and Flour (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/1162) come into full force, mandating the addition of synthetic folic acid to all non-wholemeal wheat flour. I have already noticed folic acid appearing in products I would normally buy. [Add a personal sentence here, for example: As a parent shopping for my family in [town], I want to choose what goes into our food / As a resident living with a chronic health condition, I am deeply worried about this change.]
I know the intention is worthwhile. Government modelling suggests fortification might reduce the number of pregnancies affected by a neural tube defect by about 200 per year, but the evidence is disputed. Folic acid is a licensed drug synthesised in a laboratory. It is never found naturally in food and is treated as a drug by the regulator and the health service. The policy was passed by Statutory Instrument under the negative resolution procedure, with no debate and no vote in the House of Commons. I feel it crosses an ethical red line: mass medication of an entire population without informed consent. I urge you to look into this policy without delay for these critical reasons:
- Conflict with NHS advice. The NHS warns vulnerable groups, including cancer patients (3.5 million people are living with cancer), people with heart stents and the elderly, to avoid folic acid or take it only under medical supervision. Those same people will now consume it in everyday food with no oversight.
- Masking of B12 deficiency. Folic acid can mask the anaemia doctors rely on to diagnose vitamin B12 deficiency, which affects 20% of over-60s and can lead to permanent, progressive nervous system damage. Fortification will make it harder to detect in many more people.
- Unmetabolised folic acid. No trial has ever been designed to measure the adverse effects of folic acid. The human enzyme that converts it works about 1,300 times more slowly than the equivalent enzyme in rats, the species used for safety testing, so unmetabolised folic acid circulates in the blood. Testing in the United States, which fortifies, found measurable levels in 95% of people. This applies to everyone who eats fortified food.
- A cancer signal at fortification doses. Pooled clinical trials show an increase of between 18 and 23% in new cancer diagnoses among those taking folic acid at doses under 1 mg per day. That is the dosing range fortification will create.
- Missing safeguards. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommended fortification only alongside strict controls on voluntary fortification and population safety monitoring. Neither safeguard appears in the Regulations and the government admits no monitoring plans are in place. Its own modelling showed 400,000 people, including 80,000 children, would be pushed above the 1 mg per day guidance level, yet it set the dose at 250µg/100g, above the recommended 240. There is no established safe upper limit for synthetic folic acid and no evidence at all for the effects on children who have high exposure to non-wholemeal flour products.
- No consumer opt out. White flour is an ingredient in roughly 70% of packaged foods, from oven chips and gravy granules to soy sauce, cottage pie and even Duchy organic sausages. It will be practically impossible for me or my family to avoid consuming it, denying us choice and informed consent.
Public health policy should consider the needs of the whole population, not just a select few. Over 50,000 people have signed a parliamentary petition (769589) opposing this mandate.
As my elected representative, please would you support this issue on behalf of all your constituents, by taking urgent actions to help stop this policy such as:
- Write to the Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs urging them to revoke the Regulations or at a minimum defer the December enforcement deadline until an independent safety audit is completed.
- Table an Early Day Motion or request an urgent debate in the Commons chamber to challenge the mandate on these grounds.
- Write to the Chairs of the Health and Social Care and EFRA Select Committees asking them to consider a joint inquiry.
I would be grateful if you would reply to confirm what steps you intend to take.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your full address including postcode, so your MP can verify you are a constituent]
