Goitre is found in many parts of the world including in this country. Most countries deal with the risk of goitre by adding iodine to salt but this is not the practice in the UK despite there being little risk of iodine poisoning. The best source of iodine is sea food, and you can now get capsules made from sea kelp – www.seagreens.com. Why legislation has not been passed to compel the addition of iodine to salt is a mystery, especially because iodine forms an insoluble compound with mercury.

The MMR and the influenza vaccines, chloramphenicol eye drops and some other medicines contain small amounts of mercury as a preservative. It has been remarked that pensioners frequently
suffer a period of illness shortly after being given their flu vaccination and I was astounded to discover that I was suffering from mercury poisoning shortly after being prescribed eye drops.

At present there is no way of knowing whether or not the MMR vaccine could cause autism, but iodine deficiency in early pregnancy results in the birth of cretinous children whose mental state cannot be corrected. It is hard to understand the thinking of those who permit a known poison to be added to common medicines but decline to recommend the addition of iodine to salt. The authoritarian attitude of Department of Health make it impossible to find anyone willing to accept responsibility for this situation.

Selenium
There are few common foods that are a good source of selenium although crops grown upon chalk and limestone soils are a better source than those grown upon the acidic soils that cover most of the UK. Garlic and certain nuts are a good source but this may
depend upon where they are grown. Sea food is the best natural source. I have been taking 200 mcgs of selenium a day for many years with only beneficial results, but in some locations this will be too much. The indications of selenium poisoning are soft fingernails and a garlicky breath.
Canadian wheat is a good source of selenium compared to the wheat that is intensively grown in the EU countries and now used exclusively for bread making.
Canadian wheat imported in bulk towards the end of the nineteenth century gradually replaced locally grown varieties. After the importation of Canadian wheat was prevented, government statistics showed a very significant fall in the intake of dietary selenium. The incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes increased a few years later.

In Finland the high incidence of heart disease led to selenium being added to agricultural fertiliser. This and other measures were so successful in improving public health that attempts have been made in Scotland to adopt the same policy – without success.

Click here for more articles

Click here for LINKS to manufacturers of nutrition and food supplements.

Top of page