As a trace element required for the living body, iodine is essential for the survival and growth of human beings and animals. The thyroid gland, which is located below the jaw of the human body, produces hormones including iodine. If the human body runs out of iodine, iodine deficiency disorder will occur, leading to underdevelopment, intellectual impairment, functional impairment, formation of a goiter, etc.
Since Japanese people take a necessary amount of iodine by eating seaweed and other seafood, they rarely suffer from iodine deficiency, but in the world, about 1.6 billion people are on the verge of becoming iodine-deficient. This is now a serious problem. A primary preventive measure is to add iodine compounds to dietary salt. Chiba Prefecture, which produces a significant portion of domestic iodine, conducts a project for supplying iodine to countries where people are suffering from iodine deficiency disorder, and our corporate group, too, joined this project.