The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday called for the supplement of iodized salt to be widely used throughout the region affected by Chernobyl.

Iodized salt could have significantly lowered the numbers of exposed children who developed thyroid cancer, observed Maria Calivis, UNICEF regional director for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

"For the 4,000 children in question, iodized salt could have made all the difference," she noted. "Many would have been spared from thyroid cancer."

Calivis made the remarks as the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident approaches. The explosion in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor on April 26, 1986 spread radiation over a wide swathe of land, mainly in Belarus, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation.

The areas affected by Chernobyl were iodine deficient before the disaster, and are still iodine deficient nowadays, according to UNICEF.

Despite many efforts to get legislation passed on universal salt iodization in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the issue is still being debated.

Source: Xinhua