By Steve Sailer
12/17/2006
Last night in the NYT:
In Raising the World’s I.Q., the Secret’s in the Salt
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. 17 minutes ago
Kazakhstan’s iodized salt campaign is an example of how a country can achieve a remarkable public health success.
From my 4/4/04 VDARE article:
"The survey notes, for example, that iron shortages are driving down national GNPs by lowering national IQs:
"In most developing countries today, iron deficiency is now estimated to be preventing 40% to 60% of children from growing to their mental potential… In the last 10 to 15 years, iron deficiency has assumed even greater importance as evidence accumulates linking iron deficiency with mental impairment. In various tests of cognitive and psycho-motor skills, for example, lack of iron has been found to be associated with significant levels of disadvantage — affecting IQ scores by as much as 5 to 7 IQ points."
"Similarly, iodine shortages cause the swelling of the thyroid gland called goiter, which can lead to what the U.N. report calls "cretinism."
"In the U.S., these two problems were almost completely solved decades ago — by fortifying salt with iodine and flour with iron and other micronutrients. Similar methods should work in the Third World.
"Of course, the expense and organizational challenges are greater. In Pakistan, for example, there are 600 commercial salt producers. Getting each to iodize is a sizable undertaking.
"Yet it can and must be done.
"Even if we all have to start mentioning the dread letters "IQ.""
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.