Originally published at: How Switzerland cured endemic goiter - Boing Boing
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Iodized salt had, it turned out, harmed the market for his own treatment for goiter.
So one of the morals of this story is that it’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it - or if he’s a rich far-right crank.
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Tomato, tomahto
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Never, ever bet against stupidity.
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One of my favorite German words is “Jodmangelgebiet” [region of iodine deficiency]. “Deutschland ist ein Jodmangelgebiet” read some packages of iodized salt.
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Rob’s not calling it out explicitly so I will. This is exactly how the modern large-scale anti-vaxx movement started. Andrew Wakefield pushed his anti-MMR rhetoric, which really put the fire under the movement to promote his own separate measles “vaccine”!
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This is also why the Kropfband is such a prominent part of traditional alpine attire.
(Kropf = goitre.)
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Americans who know their history will appreciate that the name of the Swiss right-wing charlatan* was “Bircher”.
[* per Charlie Pierce, this is a more appropriate term than “crank” since he was trying monetize his BS]
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It is great that such cruel, dangerous, greedy fuckwittery is a thing of the distant past… 
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I’ve heard some current day folk whine about iodine in the salt. Usually about how it messes up their cooking or some such. I’ve never known what to say about that, because I can’t detect it at all in my cooking.
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Another reminder to always eat a well-balanced diet.
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Do we need to use iodized salt here in the USA? I tend to use kosher salt when cooking. I live in CA, tho, and our produce is perhaps not as thoroughly ‘washed’ of iodine as Switzerland? Or do most multivitamins have iodine?
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Not an American. Please explain?
FTR: “birchern” is also a verb. As in “Ich birchere mir mein Müesli für morgen früh.” Basically, it’s overnight oats plus some.
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Meet the Birchers:
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Ah… OK. I see. Well, potatoes, tomatoes.
Swiss and USians.
I blame Calvin.
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No you don’t.
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It was baked into the universe from the very beginning that you would blame Calvin.
It’s still your fault.
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I declare my remonstration. In accordance with the residence principle, § 63 BBG and § 36 BeamtStG are applicable as the legal basis.
You may be able to staple a bread to a tree, but don’t you try that with my well-birchered müesli!
ETA: Happy New Year, everyone.
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