CHENNAI: Soon, the Directorate of Public Health is going to test school kids in the state to see if the community is taking iodised salt which is essential for the body growth and mental development of humans.
As a pilot project, the official are planning to collect urine samples of children in the government schools in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram district from the first week of August.
“As a pilot project, urine samples of 50 students in the age group of 6 to 12 years, 25 girls and 25 boys in government schools each in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram will be tested. The study will begin from the first week of August. The study will be extended to other districts in the state,” said S Raju, deputy director, State Public Health Laboratories.
The samples will be tested at the well established Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) laboratory which is functioning under the Directorate of Public Health.
“The study is a part of the National Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Programme, which is now being supported by the State IDD lab. Though the programme has been implemented for decades now, only now the state got a dedicated IDD lab. The IDD lab has to monitor consumption of iodised salt in the community and also availability of iodised salt in the retail shops,” said Raju. “The Central government should also set up a national level reference laboratory to monitor IDD laboratories in the states to monitor quality of these labs,” he added .
The urine samples and also salt in households and retail shops will be tested at least once in every month.Only, then we will get an idea of the consumption pattern, said Raju.
“We also tested 628 salt brands that were taken from retail shops in urban and rural areas across the districts in the IDD lab over a year; among them,136 were refined salt,89 powder and 403 were crystal salt. Of 628 brands tested, 294 brands, that is, in 47 per cent of brands the ppm (parts per million) was less than 15. The ppm should be above 15 in the consumer salt, and above 30 ppm in manufacturing salt.These results were sent to food safety department. ,” said Raju.
Speaking to Express Dr K Kolandaswamy, Director of Public Health said iodine deficiency can lead to abortion in pregnant women and also stillbirth. The growth of the children will be affected and their IQ level are will be low. Hypothyroidism is another problem. Severe form of deficiency is goitre.
“But, after the promotion of iodised salt, there are no severe goitre cases among the children in the state. The state is continuously monitoring the iodine salt consumption pattern,” said Kolandaswamy.
The Central Council of Health and Family Welfare in 1984 decided to implement compulsory iodisation salt for human consumption in the entire state.
According to the revised policy guidelines on the National Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Programme, 2006, among 29 districts surveyed in Tamil Nadu, 18 districts including Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Erode, Perambalur, Pudukottai and Villupuram had been identified as endemic to iodine deficiency disorders.
To test urine samples
Officials are planning to collect urine samples of government school students in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts from the first week of August