Basil S. Hetzel

Commentary: A new dimension—Studies in schoolchildren

The paper of Vanderpump indicates the new frontier in the cause of the elimination of iodine deficiency. It is the challenge of children pointed out by Labouisse of UNICEF in 1978 when he stated at a goitre meeting in South America, ‘Iodine deficiency is so easy to prevent that it is a crime to let a single child be born mentally handicapped for that reason’. In children the problem is now being defined by the results of psychological assessment in conjunction with measurement of urine iodine excretion. Vanderpump refers to WHO estimates that worldwide 2 billion people including 285 million schoolage children still have iodine deficiency despite major national and international efforts to increase iodine intake primarily through the voluntary or mandatory iodization of salt. 1,2