To iodise or not

It is the pet theme of the small salt producers that the big companies have been exaggerating the ill-effects of iodine deficiency in the sub-Himalayan region, for instance, to plead for continuance of the ban on sale of non-iodised salt. When there are conflicting claims by the small producer and the big producer, the government has to go by the opinion of the medical experts, who do not have any vested interests. That is what the government did in the past when it banned the sale of non-iodised salt.

When in the hoary past the Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gama and his companions arrived in India, they did not know that the scurvy they were suffering from was caused by the lack of vitamin C. It took them several months of sailing to reach India and they had no access to fruits, the commonest source of vitamin C. But today it is well known that the deficiency of iodine causes various diseases, the most prominent being goitre, caused by inflammation of the thyroid gland.

It is also proved that the people in certain areas need to supplement their food with iodine to maintain a certain level of iodine intake to ward off diseases like goitre. All this rules out a review of the status quo, more so when the world is moving towards universal iodisation of salt. One reason cited for the review is that diseases caused by iodine deficiency are no longer prevalent or pronounced in the so-called endemic areas.

The scientists attribute the phenomenon precisely to the success of the iodisation programme. The argument that the consumers will have the choice of buying iodised salt does not hold ground, given the level of illiteracy and poverty in the country.

All this does not mean that the demands of the small producers should be sacrificed. They can be encouraged and financially supported to modernise their salt-making processes so that production of iodised salt need not be the monopoly of the big companies. The small farmers in Gujarat have in the past shown that through cooperative ventures they can successfully take on multinational dairy giants.

Again, it was a small-scale Gujarati entrepreneur who provided the first major challenge to the multinational Hindustan Lever with his cheaper detergent powder. All this suggests that there is no need for the government to sacrifice the health of crores of people at the altar of the business interests of a few thousands.