CUM GRANO?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 326, 21 September 1945, Page 5

CUM GRANO?

Sir,-I write to you in a state of considerable mental turmoil. I was greatly distressed, on reading Dr. Blanc’s review of Dr. Guy Chapman’s new book, to learn that Dr. Chapman had omitted to mention iodised salt as a means of ensuring a proper supply of iodine. In some bitterness of spirit I taunted Dr. Chapman about it. He replied that he had deliberately refrained from recommending iodised salt; that according to Dr. Pulay ("Allergic Man") and other ‘reliable investigators, iodised salt should ‘be taken only under a doctor’s orders, owing to the danger of iodism; that goitre specialists often solemnly warn their patients against it; that iodine should be taken in an organic form as part of-a normal diet; and a lot more along the same lines. Then I made further enquiries and was told that the iodised salt sold in New Zealand has recently been found to contain little or no iodine; the iodine is absorbed by the bag or other container. Please can you tell me whether or not I do or do not restrain myself when I see a bag of iodised salt? Or do I chew the bag, or munch the packet? And does the Health Department think it perfectly safe for me to refrain from eating de-iodised iodised salt, as long as I chew seaweed regularly? ‘

A. R. D.

FAIRBURN

(Auckland).

(We submitted this letter to the Health Department, and have had the following reply from the Director-General: "If your correspondent’s reportage of Dr. Chapman’s views on iodised salt be correct, then Dr. Chapman is revealed as no authority on. goitre and its prevention. He is not a medical man and is being misled in some of his reading. "There is some truth in the assertion that iodine in iodised salt may be absorbed by the bag or cardboard container. The facts are that during wartime impervious containers become impossible to get, and packing has been allowed in bags and cardboard packs. If these get damp, some of the iodine is lost to the container, but enough is left to prevent goitre,

All reputable manufacturers have a margin allowing for losses of iodine content. Both bags and cardboard packs are sampled and tested by analysis at frequent intervals and there is no justification for doubt as to the ability of iodised salt sold in New Zealand to do the work it is supposed to do, in spite of any loss to the container. However, as there is no need to allow this ‘oss to continue, now that the war is.over, it is proposed to take steps to make, it obligatory to revert to impervious containers for the packing of iodised salt, or at least to the use of impervious linings in all packs of this commodity.’’)