European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sa1iw1k by Joe Wing for the associated press after a Frank and useful Salt talk with the president of the Salt Institute one is Apt to accept without a Grain of Salt his Assurance that Salt is one vital National resource of unlimited Supply. Good thing too because with no Salt modern Industry and modern Man would collapse. Yet too much Salt on food can Hurt people and too much on highways can kill Trees pollute water and rust cars. As a result conservationists and industrialists have been exchanging a lot of Salty words lately. Describing anything As unlimited gives the jitters to those who remember when America s forests Buffalo fresh water Coal crop land passenger pigeons and Oil reserves All were labelled inexhaustible. But it s different with Salt. The oceans alone contain enough Salt to plaster the Globe with a layer 112 feet thick somebody has figured out. And . Salt reserves have been estimated at 60,000 billion tons enough for 10 million years at the current rate of consumption. Yet the great Salt controversy goes on. Some of the facets if not facts 0 some physicians blame the american Salt tooth for bringing on and aggravating High blood pressure others caution against self prescribed Salt free diets. 9 salting the highways to melt Snow and ice be fouls fresh water to such an extent that Many americans sop up additional Salt unknowingly. Industry spokes men say the dangers of Snow blocked highways far outweigh the hazards of Salt. 9 proposals for storing Oil in hollowed out Gulf coast Salt domes and stashing nuclear waste in old Salt mines have resulted in dire warnings of environmental damage. For better or worse America is world Champion in production and consumption of Salt. And Only about 5 per cent finds its Way to the dinner  in this decade the practice of salting highways which had been snowballing year by year levelled off at around nine million tons annually. But Highway construction has levelled too. In the last year or two says William e. Dickenson president of the Salt Institute in Arlington va., there has been a production dip to around 41 million tons still a third of the world s output. He lays that to lagging Industry. Industry finds about 14,000 uses for Salt. Salt is one of the most widely used chemicals and figures in the manufacture of nearly every item you can Lay eyes on cloth dyes leather plastic tires brass soap aluminium detergent varnish wallpaper Wood toothpaste steel. Mankind today like All the generations since its Remote ancestors emerged from the Salty sea exists in a personalized Saline solution. If the half cup of Salt his body contains were extracted it is said he would die in a matter of hours. In medieval times criminals were sentenced sometimes to death by denial of Salt. Human beings constantly have to replace Salt that wastes away in blood sweat tears and urine. They need Only about a thimble Ful a Day however and get a lot of that in natural foods. But with a heavy hand on the Salt Shaker and consumption of Salty snacks they usually ingest several times that much. If a person has High blood pressure or kidney disease his doctor often will Tell him to Cut Salt Down or out. A writer in the Magazine chemistry says sodium in drinking water is a health menace for people suffering from heart disease hypertension dropsy and several complications of pregnancy and  moreover or. Lot b. Page chief of Medicine at the Newton Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts told an american heart association forum last january Salt alone is sufficient to initiate rising blood pres sure. If sodium intake were reduced in our population to less than two Grams a Day beginning in Early child Hood it is possible that this vast Public health problem would be brought under control in a single  that s not the Way the situation is viewed by the Salt Institute a Trade association that publicizes Salt and lob Bies against restrictions. It asserts that a healthy body maintains a constant Saline level no matter How much Salt is eaten and that self imposed unsupervised Low Salt diets if they really do reduce the Salt Reserve May even be fatal. The chief thing going for Highway Salt is that it s one of the cheapest most effective Deicers Avail Able. Yet or. . Nisbet a Massachusetts Audubon society scientist says that salting roads does not appear markedly cheaper than sanding and blowing. A consulting firm Abt associates recently reported to the environmental Protection Agency that the Bill for buying and applying Highway Salt in 41 states comes to $200 million annually that damage to autos amounts to 10 times that much and that total costs including damage to water supplies Highway structures health vegetation and utilities add up to nearly $3 billion. Even if that were True says the Salt Institute it would be less than a Quarter of the estimated $12.5 billion damage which could result in 28 Snowbell states if no Salt were used. This includes estimated lost wages lost sales and extra fuel used because of blocked roads. The fight against Highway salting has been hottest in new England. The Massachusetts Audubon society s direction of environmental affairs Deborah Howard says however that the organization Only wants use of Salt con trolled better not banned. Some roads have been doused with As much As 50 tons a mile. Connecticut has adopted a policy of reducing Salt usage and Massachusetts has promised to Cut Salt applications by a fifth. Both states Center their attention on with no Salt modern Industry and modern Man would collapse areas where water supplies might be contaminated. The Salt Institute notes on the other hand that Bur Lington vt., and Concord mass., rescinded bans on High Way Salt after trial periods. Dickenson concedes there has been Salt overkill in places and says his Institute urges Highway department to use restraint but that they often Are hampered by machinery designed for spread ing Sand not Salt. Controversy aside Salt is fascinating. It once was a commodity prize like Gold. Early Cen trial african tribesmen could buy a slave or a wife for a few pounds. In Egypt Salt cakes were used As coins. Trade routes across deserts were dictated by Salt and Timbuktu among other cities thrived on the Trade. In those Days most Salt like half of it today was obtained through evaporation of sea water by the Sun. There also was Salt in certain dry Lake Beds swamps and licks. Cities were founded near Salt sources. Among those in this country Are Syracuse n.y., where Salt still is a major Enterprise and Lincoln neb., where the Salt fizzled out. Salt is not Only valuable but sacred an Omen a Symbol. Even today the superstitious toss Salt Over their left shoulders into the Eye of the Devil. They see spilling it As a Harbinger of bad Luck. For the he brews it was a Symbol of purity. The biblical Story of lot s wife being turned into a pillar of Salt for looking Back on doomed Sodom is be Page to the stars and stripes Salt once prize As much As Gold in some parts of the world being harvested in China. Sunday october 16, 1977