About 140,000 children have learnt more about the advantages of consuming iodized salt upon their health, about keeping and using correctly the iodized salt in food. A special lecture “The hour about the iodized salt” was hold on Tuesday, November 11, in all Moldovan schools. The action was unfolded upon the request of the National Center of Scientific and Applied Preventive Medicine, the Ministry of Education and Youth, with the financial support of the UNICEF, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the organizers, each pupil from the 1st to the 4th grades received leaflet and a book sign, attractive way and easily memorized. The materials also contain a card that can be cut off, for parents. “We want the information to be understood not only by children, but also by their parents and, thus, to increase the number of families which know about the advantages of the iodized salt and can apply this knowledge in practice,” the Center's deputy director, the Heath Ministry’s main expert in education for health and health promotion, Varfolomei Calmac has said. “We have decided to organize a lecture of this kind in schools, because, the last years, the cancer morbidity and the thyroid gland diseases, especially in children and teenagers, are continuously growing, and this is caused by iodine insufficiency. The same cause increases the risks for pregnancy and for the newborns, mental retardation, backwardness in the physical development of children and other health diseases,” Calmac says. According to UNICEF data, compiled jointly with the Health Ministry and Preventive Medicine Center, in 2000 only 32% of Moldovans consumed iodized salt, as in 2005 this figure doubled to 59.8%. “In order to prevent the intellectual and health diseases of children because of the lack of iodine in food, it is necessary that 90% of the population use iodized salt. The countries that reached this figure have entirely eradicated this problem,” the coordinator of the program “Equal Access to Quality Services” of UNICEF Moldova, Svetlana Stefanet, says. “A daily use of iodized salt is the cheapest and most efficient way to avoid the diseases.” The lack of iodine in food is the primary cause for the retardation and mental deficiencies, having the most harmful impact on the fetus’ brain and on children in their first years. The lack of iodine raises the rate of stillbirths, the probability of pregnancy problems or even the loss of pregnancy. In Moldova, a country where the soil and water contain little iodine, promoting the use of the iodized salt is a priority, as about 30% of the 6-24-month-old children are exposed to the risk of backwardness in the brain development because of the lack of iodine. For this purpose, the Government has approved the National Program of eradicating diseases caused by the lack of iodine, till 2010. The document provides for importing not only iodized salt from March 1, 2007, but also for increasing the rate of using iodized salt in food by families to 90% and spreading its use in all branches of the food industry beginning with 2009. Presently, the Institute of Food Technologies jointly with the UNICEF are testing the opportunity of using iodized salt in preparing canned goods and cheese.