A large proportion of China's population is physically and mentally impaired. This condition could be remedied with a simple solution. According to health ministry estimates, more than 10 million cases of mental retardation in China - including hundreds and thousands with the visible handicaps of cretinism - are a result of iodine shortage during brain development. But there are larger numbers of Chinese who had their intelligence lowered to some degree due to lack of a simple chemical in their diets. Researchers have found that iodine deficiency is prevalent in every province of the country and its effects are much more widespread than believed: tens of millions of people with stunted lives and intellects. Adding a trace of iodine to table salt is the simplest way of tackling this problem. The government has woken up to this medical catastrophy and plans to eradicate it by 2000 AD.