The Iodized Salt Bill, 2021, was placed in the Parliament on Wednesday aiming to improve the monitoring and efficacy of the country’s salt iodization program.
Industries Minister Nurul Mazid Mahmud Humayun placed the bill in the House with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair, reports BSS.
Piloting the bill, the minister said the proposed act will be enacted through annulling the previous "Iodine Deficiency Disease Prevention Act-1989."
Over the past decades, Bangladesh has done a remarkable job bringing down once-epidemic numbers of goitre and thyroid diseases. In the mid-1990s, around 47% of the population suffered from goitre. Today, that number falls well below 6%, according to the bill.
In order to better regulate and monitor legislation introduced in the mid-1990s mandating the use of iodine in the country’s salt supply, on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, Bangladesh’s Cabinet announced that it would be considered an offense for anyone to import, produce, market, or stock salt without registering beforehand.
The minister urged the House to send the bill to the concerned parliamentary standing committee for providing reports within seven days.