Health official: Iodine intake level safe

China will stick to a wide use of iodized salt, and the current level of iodine intake is safe, said a health official, dismissing reports that linked salt iodization to increasing thyroid cancer cases.

"China preliminarily eliminated iodine deficiency diseases by 2000 in most regions, and consumption of iodized salt will be a cost-effective mainstay to avert iodine deficiency," Lei Zhenglong, deputy director of the disease prevention and control bureau under the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said at a news conference on Monday.

Iodine is a micronutrient necessary to produce thyroid hormone, but the human body doesn't make iodine, experts noted.