MUMBAI, AUGUST 14 Common salt is once again the subject of national
attention-in the 75th anniversary year of the Mahatma’s Salt March to Dandi.
Professionals, doctors, Gandhians and consumer activists from Mumbai have
sent protest letters to the Health Ministry, objecting to a May 27
notification seeking to reimpose a ban on the sale of non-iodised salt for
human consumption.
But the Maharashtra Health Department and the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) are ready to go salt shopping to execute the ban with sample checks.
”We’ll definitely implement the notification from August 15, through the
FDA,” V S Singh, secretary, Public Health, told The Indian Express.
”Adequate iodine intake is necessary to avoid iodine deficiency related
problems.”
Consumption of adequately iodised salt has fallen from 49 per cent to 37 per
cent since the ban was lifted around 2000, and the problem of iodine
deficiency disorders figures prominently in the Tenth Five-Year Plan goals
for universal access to iodine, especially for children.
The National Institute of Nutrition is researching double fortification of
salt with iron and iodine, but not everybody’s for the ban.
In the eighties, petitioners had fought a similar move at the Bombay High
Court. Kisan Mehta, president of the Save Bombay Committee that had filed
the earlier petition, has posted a protest to the ministry. ”We have
requested a hearing in Mumbai,” said Mehta. ”A ban on non-iodised salt
violates our right to choose.”
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=76300