The Swiss success story in eradicating cretinism
Illustration representing two people affected by cretinism
Cretinism affected the entire Alpine region, as shown in this Austrian illustration from 1819 by Franz Sartori, titled “The Cretins of Styria.”
In the open-air laboratory, Switzerland transformed a chemical insight into a victory for public health globally. Thanks to three visionary doctors, it invented the iodization of table salt, a practice that helped eradicate cretinism in the Alps before being adopted elsewhere.
Symbol of precision, innovation, luxury, and well-being, Switzerland was once known for harboring an emblematic situation of human suffering in the past. While tourism flourished in its alpine valleys, the strong and valiant mountain dwellers were facing the scourge of cretinism.
French historian Antoine de Baeque quoted by describing the strong men, perceptive mountain climbers with massive goiters, a result of cretinism in the Alps, reported in the Encyclopedie by Diderot and d’Alembert.
People with cretinism often exhibit anomalies such as dwarfism, deafness, muteness, and a swollen neck known as “goiter.” Severe consequences include mental retardation similar to that of a young child.
Since Roman times, cretinism has been prevalent in the Alpine regions, affecting up to 90% of the high-altitude population with goiter and 2% with cretinism. A census in Valais in 1810 revealed around 4,000 cretins among the 70,000 inhabitants.
The term “cretins,” speculated to originate from “crestin,” derived from Latin “christianus” (Christian), became a pejorative term over time. It was adopted to describe individuals affected by the mysterious ailment, implying their innocence as devout Christians beloved by God.
The Alps are beautiful but…
In the Alpine valleys, cretins became a tourist attraction and a subject of medical study, with various hypotheses proposed to explain the phenomenon, including poor hygiene, inbreeding, humidity, and poor water quality.
The true cause of cretinism was related to iodine deficiency in the diet, essential for thyroid function. Iodine, once abundant in oceans but depleted from the Alpine soil due to glaciation, was identified as the missing link by surgeon Franz Merke in 1965.
The pioneers
Heinrich Hunziker, Otto Bayard, and Hans Eggenberger played crucial roles in the iodization of salt. Hunziker proposed the link between iodine deficiency and thyroid enlargement, while Bayard experimented successfully with iodized salt in Alp…
