CAUSE OF GOITRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 762, 7 September 1929, Page 16

CAUSE OF GOITRE

DEFICIENCY OF lODINE IN SOIL

SIMPLE CURE NEGLECTED ■ i Fro*n Our Oxen Correspondent) NELSON, Today. Discussing the prevalence of goitre New Zealand in the Cawthron Foundation lecture, the subject of which this year was "Goitre in the Light of Recent Research," Dr. C. E. Hercus, professor of bacteriology at the University of Otago, dealt with the question of iodine deficiency in the Dominion. "We do not contend,” he said, "that iodine deficiency is the only cause of goitre in New Zealand. We do contend that the weight of evidence in this country clearly indicates that deficiency of iodine in the soil and food supply is the basic cause of the widespread district incidence of goitre.” The problem of prevention was more difficult on account of the painless nature, the insidious onset and the widespread incidence of the -disease. It was too soon to make any definite statement as to the preventive results, although in certain controlled observations in Dunedin the evidence of the value of the common salt method, both in prevention and treatment, were undoubted. It was disappointing to find that in spite of the propaganda by the Department of Health and the medical profession the importation of iodised salt was less than one-sixth of the actual domestic requirements of the people. If the importation of iodised salt Into the North and South Islands for 1928 were considered separately, it would be seen that the North Island, with two-thirds of the total population, imported 3,154 cwt, and the South Island 6,S74cwt. As each person required approximately 51b of salt a year, it would be seen that the North Island was importing only sufficient salt for approximately 8 per cent, of the population, as against 30 per cent, for the South Island.