By Zhang Lei and Wen Ya

China will shift its iodine supplement policy next year, the Ministry of Health said yesterday, as people are still taking iodized salt in some high-iodine areas.

In these areas, the portion of iodine added in table salt will be lowered.

Since 1994, China has banned the use of non-iodized salt nationwide except in high-iodine areas, in hopes to eliminate iodine deficiency disease (IDD).

This policy is doubted for contributing to the sharp increase of thyroid disease in Chinese coastal cities such as Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shanghai, according to Southern Metropolis Weekly.

A medical expert in Guangdong Province refuted a claim that government’s policy to add iodine to all table salts on the market is posing a public health risk.

“There is no scientific data supporting the claim,” Zhong Wen, a professor at the Guangdong Disease Control and Prevention Center, told the Global Times yesterday.

Another expert explained the reason why it is difficult to get non-iodized salt in most areas in China.

“Too much iodized salt in the diet can possibly lead to thyroid gland disease,” Hou Caiyun, a professor in China Agricultural University, told the Global Times yesterday.

“That is why the government has different policies in different regions, depending on the amount of iodine in the soil,” she added.

“Non-iodized salt is much less available than iodized salt in many areas because the profit margin is higher in selling iodized salt and the market is controlled by State-owned salt companies,” she said.

In costal Zhejiang Province, the number of cases of thyroid gland disease in cities including Hangzhou, Ningbo and Zhoushan, has been increasing since 2008 and some believe it is because non-iodized salt is difficult to find.

Cui Yonghao, a retired professor with School of Medicine of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, believes his wife’s thyroid gland disease was caused by iodized salt.

He said he was not able to buy non-iodized salt at local supermarkets.

An employee at the Zhejiang Salt Company told him he could get non-iodized salt at factory outlets with a note from a doctor.

“That upset me. It means you can only get non-iodized salt unless you have got a disease,” Cui told the weekly.

Cui is not the only one who refuses to use iodized salt. A group of Web users launched an anti-iodized salt campaign on bbs.zhoushan, a local online forum, in March.

The Ministry of Health launched a survey on coastal residents’ iodine nutrition in Zhengjiang, Liaoniang, Fujian provinces and Shanghai beginning in May. The ministry declined to provide details when the Global Times called.