At a seminar today, activists gathered under the banner of the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat demanded that the humble meeth be brought back to the dining tables and decided to counter the government's propaganda on the need for iodised salts in the daily intake of food for perfect `health'. Scientists, doctors and nutritionists pointed out that not only was the intake unnecessary - since vegetables, pulses and other cereals have enough iodine - but an excess could prove harmful to the body.

To highlight the ill-effects of excessive iodine, a victim of hyperthyroidism Kumkum Somani recounted in detail the hardships she underwent for four years because of the illness, and themiraculous cure she had when she stopped iodised salt in her food. ``It is not something that I want to talk about, but if the years of pain I suffered can be used for a cause, then they are not a waste,'' she said.

It began with allergies a few weeks after she started consuming iodised salt, manufactured by a `reputed' firm, which later developed to a full blown case of hyperthyroidism. What was worse, she said, none of the countless doctors she consulted could tell her what went wrong. She only stumbled into the hidden truth - excessive intake of iodine through salt.``Iodised salt is nothing but pure poison,'' she concluded as she recovered rapidly once she `threw the iodised salt out of the window'. Nutritionist Vijaya Venkat of the Health Awareness Centre could not have agreed more. ``When salt itself is being discarded as a source of hypertension, why should iodised salt be forced on us?'' she asked.