suicide is uncommon if the victim receives
medical care. Between 1915 and 1936 no
deaths occurred among 327 patients who ar-
rived alive at Boston City Hospital following
attempted suicide with iodine.
CHRONIC IODINE TOXICITY
Ingested iodine is absorbed as iodide, and
an average adult requires 150 to 200
µg a day.
Daily consumption of one to two liters of wa-
ter disinfected with 8 mg/l of iodine would
provide thirty to eighty times that amount, but
individuals with normal thyroid function
would not be affected by such quantities.
(Even less effect would be produced by 0.5 to
1.0 mg/day.) The recommended daily dose of
expectorant potassium iodide for asthmatics
ranges from 1.2 to 8.0 g (0.9 to 6.0 g of io-
dine.)
Iodine can cause fetal goiters that produce
respiratory obstruction at birth, but the moth-
ers of infants with iodide goiters are almost all
asthmatics who have consumed a gram or
more of iodine daily for many months or
years.
Inmates of three Florida prisons drank wa-
ter disinfected with 0.5 to 1.0 mg/l of iodine
for fifteen years. No detrimental effects on the
general condition or thyroid function of previ-
ously healthy persons were detected with
careful medical and biochemical monitoring.
Of 101 infants born to inmates who had been
in prison for 122 to 270 days, none had de-
tectable thyroid enlargement. However, all
four individuals with hyperthyroidism became
more symptomatic while consuming iodinated
water.
These studies indicate that individuals
with normal thyroid function, including preg-
nant women, can consume water disinfected
with 8 mg/l of iodine for at least several
months with no ill effects. A system that in-
corporates a filter and adds only 0.5 to 1.0
mg/l of iodine would eliminate the risk of io-
dide goiter.
IODINE PREPARATIONS
Tri- to Pentaiodide Resins
Many portable water filters include secon-
dary filters composed of iodine containing
resins. Water passing through the secondary
filters is exposed to the iodine, which has
been clearly demonstrated to kill bacteria and
viruses. Since such devices should remove all
microorganisms some manufacturers have
called them water "purifiers".
However, these iodide resins are associ-
ated with several problems. The water is ex-
posed to the resin for such a short time that
some manufacturers have recommended that
cold water be filtered twice.
A small amount of iodine is released into
the water as it passes through the filter, but the
quantity is usually quite small--too little to
taste and possibly too little to continue effec-
tively disinfecting the water. However, with
continued use, the iodine in the filter is totally
removed. None of the filters currently avail-
able offer any means for determining when
such exhaustion has occurred. Repeatedly re-
placing the filters after every 100 liters or wa-
ter that are disinfected is somewhat expensive,
and keeping the records needed to determine
that a filter has been used for that quantity of
water is tedious.
Tetraglycine Hydroperiodide
Tablets containing tetraglycine hydroperi-
odide are widely sold under trade names such
as Globaline
®
and Potable-Aqua
®
. One fresh
tablet dissolved in a liter of water provides an
