PREVALENCE OF GOITRE,

Otago Witness, Issue 3828, 26 July 1927, Page 72

PREVALENCE OF GOITRE,

THE TRAGEDY OF APATHY.

■GROWING TOLL OF VICTIMS

CHRISTCHURCH, July 22. In a report presented to the Canterbury Education Board this morning Dr Baker M'Laglan (the Education Department's Health Inspector) emphasised very strongly the danger that existed through the prevalance of goitre in tho schools. The report stated that over the last seven years the statistics remained prac? tically steady, and predicted that m about 200 years, at the present rate, Canterbury would be 'ike Switzerland, where there were thousands of Cretin imbeciles dug to thyroid degeneration through successive generations. “When Dr Hercus and I visited thq Girls’ High School,” Dr M’Laglan said, “we saw 300 or 400 of the High School pupils, and found 89 per cent, of goitre, of which 79 per cent, was plainly visible, In addition, we interrogated each girl to see what, if any. treatment she had taken, either preventive or curative. About a quarter only had done anything. Of these most were at the Giris' High School Hostel, and had had iodised salt there for about a year. A few with marked _ goitre had been to a doctor or a chemist and got something to rub ou or a bottle of medicine which. they had used for a few weeks. Not more than five girls in all had made anything at all worth calling a reasonable attempt at prevention. Of course, most of the goitres at that age are already well established, and ‘‘prevention” is out of the question. To try and cure goitre which is well-established at 15 is much like chasing an express tram. The thyroid gland begins secreting in the sixth month of pre-natal life, and if there is a shortage of the essential iodine in the mother’s blood the thyroid may enlarge before birth. Already in Christchurch a number of babies are born with goitre. Therefore, prevention must be begun before birth by supplying the infinitesimal amount of iodine required in the mother's diet. ‘ When a child comes to school,” continued Dr M'Laglan. “we are five and a-half years late, even if every child took the school treatment as a routine, which they do not. Moreover, treatment at school has the serious disadvantage that the public is led to suppose that the treatment at school is all that is necessary, instead of treatment from before birth and steadily on throughout life. Broadly speaking, except fur Taranaki and the Auckland province north of Mercer all New Zealand is goitre-bearing in varying degrees. Yet it is undesirable tliat iodine should be used in excess. The amounts required are so minute that it is difficult for the mind to appreciate them. It is, therefore, better to use a brand of salt of a strength designed only to make up the deficiency and regularly tested by a scientific laboratory. Such is Windsor brand iodised salt, which is periodically tested in the laboratories of the division of preventive medicine in Dunedin. In those comparatively rare instances where iodine or iodised salt has done harm two factors have been present—(a) Ihe iodine has been excessive (some brands of iodised salt are 10 times the strength of the one mentioned) ; and (b) thyroid has already become abnormal. “It is seven years since Professor Hercus and myself made up statistics of goitre at the Girls High School. It was then 92 per cent. —practically the same as at present. From that day till this we have preached goitre prevention (not cure), and with each succeeding year we have spoken more definitely -nd with more authority; yet at the end of seven years not more than half a dozen <rirls in our High School have made any real attempt at prevention, and 89 per’ cent have goitre, of which 79 per cent, is plainly visible. It is the old story that there are none so deaf as those who will not hear, for there cannot longer be ignorance. The tragedy of apathy lies in the fact that each succeeding generation will get worse. I n 200 years Canterbury will be like Switzerland, where they have thousands of Cretin imbeciles due to thyroid degeneration through successive generations. It is not for ourselves we must act; but for those unborn generations yet to come to inherit this fine land. It 1 cotud only wake our people up to this danger, to the urgency of the call for action, to the simplicity of prevention, then should all my years of labour for the children of this province not b? wasted; and the years are ■•lippin'’ hv so fast,—l have so few felt to do" tin’s tiling. beven years ago there were 92 per cent, at this Girls’ High School Today there are 89 per cent. Most of the cases are too late to help; nanv of them are doomed to danger and suffe.mg, and some of them to death from goitre; and almost every case there could have been prevented if treatment had been begun and persisted in steadily seven, or even, five, years ago, when Professor Hercus and myself first showed how serious was the position.” It was resolved to send a copy of the report to the Minister of Health.