Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Iodine Deficiency Disorders Plague Europe, Central Asia, says UNICEF

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Iodine Deficiency Disorders Plague Europe, Central Asia, says UNICEF

    Voice of America, DC
    Sept 25 2004

    Iodine Deficiency Disorders Plague Europe, Central Asia, says UNICEF
    Lisa Schlein
    Geneva


    The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, says Iodine Deficiency Disorders,
    which cause mental retardation, are a huge problem in Europe and
    Central Asia. UNICEF says this disorder can be solved for as little
    as five cents per person per year by iodizing salt.
    In this video clip, UNICEF's regional ambassador and 16-time world
    chess champion, Anatoly Karpov, tells children they must have iodine
    in their diet, if they want to be smart. He repeats this message in a
    joking manner to a group of journalists.

    "I can answer you like a joke that I believe that, when we solve the
    problem, every child will play chess," said Anatoly Karpov. "I
    believe that this is extremely important, and this is a problem we
    know how to solve. One of the few problems we know how to solve."

    Mr. Karpov comes from Russia, located in one of the regions of the
    world most seriously affected by iodine deficiency. UNICEF statistics
    show that more than half of the people in Western and Central Europe
    live in iodine-deficient countries. Surprisingly, some of the most
    developed countries, such as Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany
    suffer from a lack of iodine. However, the problem is most severe in
    countries such as Russia and the Ukraine.

    UNICEF says these two countries account for 1.3 million newborn
    babies a year, who are not protected from iodine deficiency. This out
    of five million iodine deficient babies born in all of the region's
    22 countries.

    Mr. Karpov says the babies suffer because their mothers did not
    include iodine in their diets when they were pregnant. He says,
    unfortunately, the mental retardation that results from iodine
    deficiency in the womb is not reversible in later life.

    "We believe that the cheapest, simplest and general message, to avoid
    iodine deficiency, is to have general iodization of salt," he said.
    "And, it does not cost too much. It is about five cents per year, per
    person-very cheap."

    Mr. Karpov says governments should pass legislation to make iodized
    salt mandatory. He says, in countries with such laws, iodine
    deficiency disorders have decreased. He notes this can be seen even
    in poor countries, such as Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
    Armenia and Georgia.

    UNICEF says governments often do not promote iodine in food out of
    ignorance or widely-held misconceptions. For example, it says India
    rescinded legislation on iodized salt under pressure from consumer
    groups. It says these groups claimed that iodine in salt causes a
    variety of health problems. Tragically, it says, by eliminating
    iodine from the diet, mental retardation among children in India,
    once again, is on the rise.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X