The iodine in salt could prevent illnesses related to a lack of iodine in people, such as enlarged thyroids, miscarriages, fetus abnormalities, and low IQ in children, etc.

Tashilin Village of Tibet is part of the plateau valley region, where residents live mainly on tsampa, yak butter, beef, lamb, with little vegetables and are prone to iodine deficiency. In fact, Tibet used to be a major region for iodine deficiency in China, especially its remote areas.

Since 2009, Tibet Autonomous Region has allocated 30 million yuan (4.7 million US dollars) annually in public funds to decrease the price of iodized salt from 1.5 yuan/kg (o.24 US dollars/kg) to 0.5 yuan/kg (0.08 US dollars/kg). This kind of salt is exclusively supplied to farmers and herders and not allowed for regular sale, which has solved the problem of the overly high prices of salt due to the cost of circulation.

Editor: Tommy Tan.