DETERMINAÇÃO DO TEOR DE IODO EM ÁGUAS DE ABASTECIMENTO PÚBLICO DE TODOS OS MUNICÍPIOS DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

Abstract

In the present paper the authors determined the iodine rate of waters for public supply of 369 cities comprising ali the municipalities of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. After analising the existing dosage methods, the technical and practical difficulties of which they point out, the authors decided to adapt for the iodine dosage in water the reaction the cinetics of which had been studied by Lein and Schwartz, that is the reaction ocurring between cerium IV and arsenites, when catalysed by iodides. The results obtained are distributed as follows: from O to 1 per 1 : 206 samples (54,07%); from I to 5 f!g per I: 151 (39,63%); from 5 to 10 ug per 1: 17 (4,46%); over 10 ug per 1: 7 (1,84%). The statistical characteristics found were: mean = 1, 73 f!g per 1 ; standard deviation = 2,526; coefficient of variation = 146%; and standard error of the mean = O, 129. In the part of conclusions, the authors emphazise the poorness in iodine of the great majority of the waters examined; they point out that the results obtained suggest that endemic goiter in the State of São Paulo must have a wider distribution than that known up to the present; they suggest, finally, based on the results obtained that Government agencies should provide iodine supplementation to the populations which need it, in the terms and techniques recommended by the IIId Conference on nutrition problems in Latin America.