Iodine Deficiency in China
Every year, half a billion Chinese are affected by it. Every year, six million Chinese babies are at risk concerning it. The most distressing fact, though, is that it's completely preventable. Iodine deficiency has been all but wiped out throughout most of the civilized world, but in China, the obstacle is growing. . .rapidly.
Primarily through such iodization efforts as iodized salt, IDD (Iodine Deficiency Disorder) is rare among Westernized countries, most notably, the United States. In other parts of the world, iodine is distributed as a serum and injected. The logical assumption, therefore, is to attempt to enact the systems in the PRC.
The often overlooked truths, however, prevent either of these. On paper, the salt industry in China is highly regulated. All salt producers must register with the state and follow its guidelines dealing with the manufacture of it. However, in practice, many private, unlicensed salt producers exist, and each's salt is amazingly more popular than its state-regulated competitors, chiefly because it's cheaper, and the highly impoverished rural Chinese are more apt to choose by cost rather than health. Therefore, any attempts by the government to iodize the salt will not alleviate the problem significantly. The second option involving injection of iodized oil is even more ineffective. For iodine to be properly injected, it must be handled by a doctor. With the combined problems of the lack of doctors in the Chinese countryside and the incredibly high cost of regular injections, it's humorous to even consider such an approach.
A solution, luckily, does exist. Water iodization through irrigation is entirely practical. This relatively new technique involves iodizing the irrigation water (with methods similar to the flourinization of drinking water in the US), which is absorbed into the soil. Now, once absorbed in the soil, any vegetables grown using common irrigation water will have a much higher iodine content. This will lead to a much higher iodine consumption by the Chinese peasants, not to mention any other inhabitants feeding on this food. To facilitate this, the United States should organize and fund a program to implement iodization via irrigation water in the PRC where needed.
For fifteen cents per person a year, initially funded by the US grant, and later paid by the Chinese government, IDD can be eradicated. The critics, of course, argue that it's not America's business dealing with this foreign civilian problem. But, empirically, the United States must be the active body. The US is the first and foremost expert in the development of unnatural iodization. The United States was the first country to nationally iodize itself; it should be the entity that develops the iodization in China.
But, does this solve anything? The answer is a resounding "Yes!" IDD, each year, causes innumerable cases of Goiters, the most widely known effect of it. However, a lesser-known fact is that IQ levels are significantly lower in children born to mothers with IDD. In severe cases, children of iodine deficient mothers suffer irreversible brain damage and retardation. As has been shown by a study at the Duke University Medical Center, these defects have resulted in a major hindrance of economic and social development in slowly developing or undeveloped areas. By introducing hiher iodine levels to the Chinese, all of this can be prevented.
So, in this world of incurable diseases, there is at least one condition than can be tamed. There is absolutely no reason that people of the modern age should be afflicted with such a simple-to-eradicate disease as IDD. Therefore, all feeling Americans are urged to contact their Senator and Representatives to tell them to sponsor a bill for a fund for the elimination of the Iodine Deficiency Disorder.