SANGSAD BHABAN, Jan 20, 2021 (BSS) – The Iodised Salt Bill, 2021 was placed in the Jatiya Sangsad aiming toimproving the monitoring and efficacy of the country’s salt iodisation programme.
Industries Minister Nurul Mazid Mahmud Humayun todayplaced the bill in the House with Speaker of the JatiyaSangsad Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
Piloting the bill, the minister said the proposed act will be enacted through annulling the previous ‘Iodine Deficiency Disease Prevention Act-1989’.
During the past decades, Bangladesh has done a remarkable job bringing down once-epidemic numbers of goitre and thyroid disease. In the mid-1990s, around 47% of the population suffered from goitre. Today, that number falls well below 6%, according to the bill.
It would be considered an offense for anyone to import, produce, market or stock salt without registering beforehand.
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, 7th October 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 sent the bill to the concerned parliamentary standing committee for providing reports with seven days.