May 15 of this year is the 16th "China Iodine Deficiency Disorders Day" themed on "Eliminate the Iodine Deficiency Disorders Continuously with the Joint Participation of the Whole Society ".
Iodine deficiency disorders is a general term for a group of endemic diseases as a result of the human body iodine malnutrition caused by the lack of iodine in the human environment, including endemic thyroid gland swollen, endemic cretinism, simple deaf-mute, still births, stillbirths, miscarriages, premature birth and congenital malformations, etc.
Because most of these diseases occur in the period of fetus and infant, once infected, it is difficult to cure, and the patient will be sick for life and become the burden of the family and society. Therefore, iodine deficiency is a major public health issue seriously affecting the quality of population and socio-economic development.
As iodine deficiency in natural environment is an unchangeable reality, we must let the urban and rural residents persist in long-term consumption of the iodized salt for purpose of prevention and elimination of iodine deficiency disorders. Since the State Council promulgated and implemented the "Regulation on Edible Salt Iodization as a Means to Eliminate Iodine Deficiency Disorders" in 1994, the city's prevention and control of iodine deficiency disorders has yielded great results. According to national monitoring result of iodine deficiency disorders in 2005, the iodine nutrition level of Beijing urban and rural residents has reached moderate status and the endemic thyroid gland swollen of school-age children has been effectively controlled. Practice has shown that consumption of iodized salt is the most convenient, most economical, safest, and most effective measures to prevent iodine deficiency disorders.
According to Beijing monitoring result of iodized salt in 2008, the consumption rate of qualified iodized salt of urban and rural residents in our city has reached more than 95% and the iodine nutrition of urban and rural residents has reached the desired level. However, it is alarming in some areas in the city, especially in urban-rural joint area, as well as in the resident households of remote mountain areas, non-iodized salt still can be detected. The root causes for this situation are that some unscrupulous vendors circulate qualified iodized salt into the market through illegal channels, and the packaging is the same as regular iodized salt, so that the masses can hardly distinguish between the genuine and fake, which cause serious damage to the physical and mental health of consumers.
Hence, on one hand, government departments should continue to intensify supervision of the salt market to crack down on illegal trafficking of private salt to block market access of unqualified iodized salt fundamentally; on the other hand, we would like to remind the majority of consumers that they should buy qualified iodized salt from formal supermarkets or shopping malls and not buy salt in illegal market.
Edible iodized salt should be eaten with the purchase and be not suitable for a long-term storage. Moreover, the iodized salt should be stored in brown glass bottles with cover or porcelain jars and placed in a cool dry place for storage, and people should pay attention to heat and moisture insulation and avoid taking them close to oven fire. When using them, do not fry iodized salt with oil, and add iodized salt when the dish and soup are to be cooked well. When pickling the Pickle with iodized salt, do not wash iodized salt. Only when people scientifically use iodized salt can they prevent iodine deficiency disorders effectively.