On September 13 the Indian government finally withdrew its 2-year-old order making iodization of edible salt compulsory and statutory. The order was issued in 1998 to prevent iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs). Now the order has been withdrawn despite health ministers of most of the Indian states being in its favor. Although the Health Ministry notification was issued in May this year its implementation was put on hold because of protests. Unhappy with the latest move a group of scientists and consumers led by the Indian Council for Control of IDDs will take the matter to the Supreme Court. Chandrakant S. Pandav regional coordinator of the International Council for Control of IDDs said that arguments based on the science of IDDs have been clouded by issues of pricing. The Council according to him is compiling all scientific papers published on the subject so far. But experts from the Jawahar Lal Nehru University say that all the work done on iodine deficiency in India--which led to the compulsory iodization policy--was done by only one institution and needs to be peer reviewed. (full text)