No correlation between folic acid/iron additives and cancer risk, ministry claims

In an effort to silence those in Armenia opposing the enriching of wheat flour with folic acid and iron, arguing that such measures might lead to increased cancer risks, Armenia’s Ministry of Health today released a statement claiming that health ministries of Chile and Canada had declared no such impact after allowing such measures in their own countries.

The Armenian health ministry says it wrote to Chile asking if it had registered an increase in cancer cases after allowing the enrichment of wheat flour and that the response was that not such increase had been registered and that, on the contrary, certain illnesses had witnessed a decrease.

The ministry says that Chile expressed a willingness to assist Armenia in implementing such an enrichment program.

Armenia had already contacted health authorities in Canada on the same issue. The ministry claims that the Canadian response noted that the country had introduced folic acid enrichment in 1998 and that there has not been any discernible rise in cancer cases.

Canadian authorities also were quoted as saying that a test on 50,000 individuals showed no immediate correlation between the use of folic acid and cancer.

Armenia’s Ministry of Health, in its statement, calls on the press to stop publishing fake information on the issue given the receipt of the above official correspondence.

The ministry also calls on those opposing the enrichment program to stop spreading lies and creating public confusion.