HALITE - SALT
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Halite is the mineral name for ordinary salt, the salt we use for our food. There are other salts but i want to focus on Halite
Halite is SODIUM CHLORIDE
Table salt is simply Halite that has been cleaned to get pure sodium chloride and re crystalized in small crystals Use a magnifier and you will see your table salt is small cubes, the crystal form of halite
Halite is clear and colorless...
However when it occurs in nature several impurities and other minerals with give it color like pink and reddish tones
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Halite_3.JPG)
Halite, commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride (NaCl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities. It commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides, and borates. The name Halite is derived from the Ancient Greek word for salt, ἅλς (háls).
Occurrence
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Halite cubes from the Stassfurt Potash deposit, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany (size: 6.7 × 1.9 × 1.7 cm)
Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas. Salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and underlie broad areas. In the United States and Canada extensive underground beds extend from the Appalachian basin of western New York through parts of Ontario and under much of the Michigan Basin. Other deposits are in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The Khewra salt mine is a massive deposit of halite near Islamabad, Pakistan. In the United Kingdom there are three mines; the largest of these is at Winsford in Cheshire producing on average a million tonnes per year.
Salt domes are vertical diapirs or pipe-like masses of salt that have been essentially "squeezed up" from underlying salt beds by mobilization due to the weight of overlying rock. Salt domes contain anhydrite, gypsum, and native sulfur, in addition to halite and sylvite. They are common along the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana and are often associated with petroleum deposits. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Romania and Iran also have salt domes. Salt glaciers exist in arid Iran where the salt has broken through the surface at high elevation and flows downhill. In all of these cases, halite is said to be behaving in the manner of a rheid.
Unusual, purple, fibrous vein filling halite is found in France and a few other localities. Halite crystals termed hopper crystals appear to be "skeletons" of the typical cubes, with the edges present and stairstep depressions on, or rather in, each crystal face. In a rapidly crystallizing environment, the edges of the cubes simply grow faster than the centers. Halite crystals form very quickly in some rapidly evaporating lakes resulting in modern artifacts with a coating or encrustation of halite crystals. Halite flowers are rare stalactites of curling fibers of halite that are found in certain arid caves of Australia's Nullarbor Plain. Halite stalactites and encrustations are also reported in the Quincy native copper mine of Hancock, Michigan.
Uses
Halite is often used both residentially and municipally for managing ice. Because brine (a solution of water and salt) has a lower freezing point than pure water, putting salt or saltwater on ice that is near 0 °C (32 °F) will cause it to melt. (This effect is called freezing-point depression.) It is common for homeowners in cold climates to spread salt on their sidewalks and driveways after a snow storm to melt the ice. It is not necessary to use so much salt that the ice is completely melted; rather, a small amount of salt will weaken the ice so that it can be easily removed by other means. Also, many cities will spread a mixture of sand and salt on roads during and after a snowstorm to improve traction. In addition to de-icing, rock salt is occasionally used in agriculture. An example of this would be inducing salt stress to suppress the growth of annual meadow grass in turf production.
Salt is also used extensively in cooking as a flavor enhancer and to cure a wide variety of foods such as bacon and fish. Larger pieces can be ground in a salt mill or dusted over food from a shaker as finishing salt.
Some cultures, especially in Africa, prefer a wide variety of different rock salts for different dishes. Pure salt is avoided as particular colors of salt indicates the presence of different impurities. Many recipes call for particular kinds of rock salt, and imported pure salt often has impurities added to adapt to local tastes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halite
Now then I want to discuss some common misconceptions and downright fraud in the Salt Market, mostly directed at the New Age crowd that seems to be easily swayed :P
There are many 'salts' sold on the market under various names;
Rock Salt, Sea Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt to start...
Rock Salt is basically the rough rock form of halite before it is processed into table salt... it literally is crushed rock. Since you cannot wash salt, as it dissolves in water :P, "PURE" crushed rock salt is straight out of the ground, with all the dirt and impurities left in it.
According to The Mayo Clinic and Australian Professor Bruce Neal, the health consequences of ingesting sea salt or regular table salt are the same, as the content of sea salt is still mainly sodium chloride. In comparison, table salt is more heavily processed to eliminate minerals and usually contains an additive to prevent clumping.
Iodine, an element essential for human health, is present only in small amounts in sea salt. Iodised salt is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine.
THIS is how rock salt is mined from an old sea bed under Lake Erie
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You sure you don't want it cleaned first? :P
(https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5730c9e852bcd01d7b8c1973-1334-889.jpg)
(https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5730c9e852bcd026008c1d01-1334-889.jpg)
(https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5730c9e852bcd05b008c1c7e-1334-889.jpg)
12 rare photos inside a beautiful mine that's hidden 2,000 feet below Lake Erie
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-salt-mine-2000-feet-below-lake-erie-2016-5#much-of-the-salt-is-moved-from-underground-to-above-after-it-is-broken-up-once-you-enter-the-mine-you-go-through-a-series-of-airlocks-that-regulate-the-air-pressure-fresh-air-from-the-surface-is-pumped-down-the-mine-shaft-to-supply-oxygen-to-the-miners-5
Health effects of salt
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SEM image of a grain of table salt
The health effects of salt are the conditions associated with the consumption of either too much or too little salt. Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl) and is used in food for both preservation and flavor. Sodium ions are needed in small quantities by most living things, as are chloride ions. Salt is involved in regulating the water content (fluid balance) of the body. The sodium ion itself is used for electrical signaling in the nervous system.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that excess sodium can increase blood pressure and the risk for a heart disease and stroke in some individuals. Therefore, health authorities recommend limitations on dietary sodium. The United States Department of Health and Human Services recommends that individuals consume no more than 1500–2300 mg of sodium (3750–5750 mg of salt) per day depending on race, medical condition and age. The World Health Organization recommends that adults consume no more than 5 g of salt per day.
As an essential nutrient, sodium is involved in numerous cellular and organ functions. Salt intake that is too low, below 3 g per day, may also increase risk for cardiovascular disease and early death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_salt
Sea Salt
Sea salt is salt produced from the evaporation of seawater, rather than by being extracted from sedimentary deposits. It is used in cooking and cosmetics. It is also called bay salt or solar salt. Like mineral salt, production of sea salt has been dated to prehistoric times.
There is little or no health benefit to using sea salt over other forms of sodium chloride salts.
Now then let's have a look at how Sea Salt is collected..
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Sea salt harvesting in Pak Thale, Phetchaburi, Thailand
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Marakkanam_Salt_Pans.JPG)
A salt evaporation pond in Tamil Nadu, India
This one shows reddish orange color. This color is made by the impurities and other minerals in the salt. Don't forget that the ocean has all sorts of other minerals and heavy metals dissolved in it like mercury and gold, and as the water evaporates ALL these minerals are in that salt.
Still want to use it UNCLEANED? :P
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/FleurDeSel.JPG)
"Fleur de sel" sea salt, Île de Ré
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Black lava salt - Black salt, a type of volcanic halite
Black lava salt is a marketing term for sea salt harvested from various places around the world that has been blended and colored with activated charcoal. The salt is used as a decorative condiment to be shown at the table.
Studies have found some microplastic contamination in sea salt from the US, Europe and China.
Okay now comes the Absolute Fraud part... and a possible serious health risk as well...
Himalayan Pink SaltThis one has become an outright scam with even some 'doctors" touting it's benefits. It was originally sold as BATH SALTS, for which it is fine and dandy. It was never meant for consumption.
Now the New Age crowd says it's all the rage, and if you try to show them the reality they just call you names and brush you off, because they KNOW they are right... Below I will reprint an article by a Doctor... saves me redoing all the work :D but first:
Himalayan Pink Salt DOES NOT COME FROM HIMALAY
1) It is mined in Pakistan... in a very dirty mine by what we would call today slave labor as they spend 18 hrs a day mining by hand... like the old Roman salt mines 2000 years ago
2) The "Pink" color is caused by impurities in the salt particularly MANGANESE and IRON OXIDE The more pink colors are from Manganese and the reddish are from Iron Oxide (rust)
3) Some salt companies list 83 trace minerals in that salt... (we will cover those shortly... some are downright toxic)
So lets start with the actual mine:
Himalayan Pink SaltHimalayan salt is rock salt or halite from the Punjab region of Pakistan, near the Himalayas, but falsely marketed as being from the Himalayas. Numerous health claims have been made concerning Himalayan salt, but there's no scientific evidence that prove these claims.
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Salt blocks loaded by hand..
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Cutting the blocks with an unshielded saw in the mine
Pakistan's Pink Gold(https://gdb.rferl.org/A9864D96-4CEC-48DA-85CD-F726F2A292B2_w1023_r1_s.jpg)
A man applies the final touches to a sculpture made from Himalayan pink rock salt on the outskirts of Lahore.
QuoteHimalayan pink salt has become de rigeur in most fashionable circles in recent years.
Celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver have recommended the rose-colored condiment for its subtle flavors, while special lamps made from the attractively hued crystal have been endorsed by alternative lifestyle gurus for their restorative powers.
Many specialized pink-salt spas have also cropped up, offering a wide range of soothing baths and curative treatments based on this seemingly magic mineral.
Most of our supplies of this popular product actually come from Pakistan's Khewra salt mines, which lie in the foothills of the Himalayas, about 260 kilometers from Lahore.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of this rock salt are reportedly extracted from the Khewra mines each year, with much of it being exported to the West, where it is sold as a deluxe seasoning in high-end delicatessens or made into fancy lamps that take pride of place in expensive gift shops.
https://www.rferl.org/a/oakistan-pink-rock-salt-himalayan-khewra-mines/24756967.html
One comment of note on that page:
Frank (London)
November 01, 2012 08:32
The non sodium chloride taste and colour presumably come from the impurities. I know my body doesn't mind the K+ ions and Ca in it, but I really draw the line at the 12g of sulphur per kilo of pink Himalayan rock salt. And this Oliver man calls it "subtle". Sounds like a load of pink culinary hype. Why doesn't he just put NaCl on his food and shine a pink light on it?Minerals in Himalayan Pink Salt: Spectral Analysishttp://www.saltnews.com/chemical-analysis-natural-himalayan-pink-salt/
Notice the list of imurities in it Especially the radioactive ones. LOL Right under the last one on the list PLUTONIUM, the page says:
Now that you know all the amazing minerals that makes up this great salt, why not stock up or try it for the first time! We carry the highest quality pink himalayan salt around and have worked with the same salt farms for over a decade. With different grain sizes, we have the perfect pink salt for all your dishes!Really? You still want to eat salt that has not been cleaned?
:o
::)
History
Although its salt is sometimes marketed as "Jurassic Sea Salt", this salt deposit comes from a sea present during the Permian and Cretaceous eras, around 250 million years ago. This sea apparently ended up landlocked, evaporating until it left a dense salt deposit, colored by a common pink microorganism that had lived in it. Over the next few hundred million years, that deposit ended up at the border of a continental plate, and was pushed up into a mountain range in Pakistan.
The concentration of salt near Khewra, Punjab, is said to have been discovered around 326 BC when the troops led by Alexander the Great stopped to rest there and noticed their horses licking the salty rocks. Salt was probably mined there from that time, but the first records of mining are from the Janjua people in the 1200s.
Himalayan salt is mostly mined at the Khewra Salt Mine in Khewra, Jhelum District, Punjab, which is situated in the foothills of the Salt Range hill system in the Punjab province of the Pakistan Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is located about 310 km (190 mi) from the Himalayas, 260 km (160 mi) from Lahore, and 298 km (185 mi) from Amritsar, India.
Here are some of the miners at work...
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Mineral composition
Himalayan salt is chemically similar to table salt plus mineral impurities including chromium, iron, zinc, lead, and copper. Some salts mined in the Himalayans are not suitable for use as food or industrial use without purification, due to these impurities.
Some salt crystals from the Himalayas have an off-white to transparent color, while impurities in some veins of salt give it a pink, reddish, or beet-red color.
(http://sacred-valley-salt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/e1a01015d089fa63fd83ca13c981f8b1f4cece81.jpg)
(http://www.spirotherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/pink-salt-mine.jpg)
Pretty to look at to be sure, makes great salt lamps... but I wouldn't eat it :P any more than I would eat Rhodocrosite, a rich in calcium manganese mineral also pink
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Himalayan Salt FAD May Be a Health Risk
Women's Health http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/01/salt-may-be-health-scam.html
(PDF). Journal of the Chemical Society of Pakistan. Chemical Society of Pakistan. 29 (26): 570–571
https://www.jcsp.org.pk/ArticleUpload/1249-5588-1-RV.pdf
QuoteThe story of the appearance of Himalayan salt as a health food in Europe seems to have begun in Germany with a man name Peter Ferreira, whose real name seems to be Peter Druf according to this sceptic website and has it seems been called by some the "König der Scharlatane" or king of charlatans. Apparently still selling Himalayan salt, as his biography on this site suggests, he claims to be a Biophysicist although no proof of this is forthcoming. His rise to prominence began it seems in late 1990's Germany with public lectures and tape recordings claiming this Himalayan salt to be a panacea for all ills. Although I cannot speak German, recordings of some of these have been posed on youtube including this audience exhausting five hour monologue. Further prominence in Europe was achieved with the release of the book Water and Salt: The Essence of Life – The Healing Power of Nature that details "the powerful healing qualities of Himalayan Crystal Salt" co-authored with a Dr Barbara Hendel who is apparently still working as some sort of holistic medicine doctor in Germany.
https://honey-guide.com/2014/04/17/himalayan-rock-salt/
I have a copy somewhere of a study done by the health Board in Germany in which they state it is not fit for human consumption. I will have to find that as google wasn't popping it up
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt: An Update
The claims of health benefits from pink Himalayan sea salt are not supported by a shred of evidence. In fact, its vaunted "84 trace minerals and elements" include several poisons and many radioactive elements.
Harriet Hall on January 31, 2017
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In 2014 I wrote an article about salt in which I disparaged Himalayan pink salt. Perhaps I didn't disparage it enough. It is still wildly popular, and egregious lies are still being told about it. Its proponents now claim that a double-blind placebo-controlled study has proved that it has health benefits. They are wrong: that study doesn't prove any such thing!
What? Sea salt in the Himalayas?
Yes, the salt beds were deposited from ancient oceans 250 million years ago and the ocean layers were uplifted when the Himalayas formed. They were covered by lava and were enveloped in ice and snow for millennia. The salt was protected from modern day pollution and preserved in an untouched, pristine environment. So buzz words like natural, unpolluted, pure, and ancient come to mind and appeal to the gullible.
Why pink?
The color is due to impurities. Pure sodium chloride is white. It is ironic that pink Himalayan sea salt is advertised as "The purest salt available today." Its very color belies that claim.
What health benefits are claimed?
It is alleged to store vibrational energy and to provide many specific health benefits. Here's a typical list of claims:
Aids in vascular health
Supports healthy lungs and respiratory function
Promotes a stable pH balance within the cells
Reduces the signs of aging
Promotes healthy sleep patterns
Increases libido
Prevents muscle cramps
Increases hydration
Strengthen bones
Lowers blood pressure
Improves circulation
Detoxifies the body of heavy metals
There is no evidence for these claims. They are speculations based on findings about larger amounts of minerals that are present only in minute amounts in pink Himalayan salt.
Mercola makes similar health claims and sells his own brand in which the:
"...array of elements forms a compound in which each molecule is interconnected. The connectedness allows the vibrational component of the 84 trace elements present in their natural mineral form in the salt to be in harmony with each other and adds to the ability to promote a healthy balance."
That's pure pseudoscientific piffle.
It is also recommended for bathing and for use in a salt lamp to improve air quality and release negative ions, providing various health benefits such as taming allergies and asthma, boosting energy levels, and treating depression. There is no evidence that these lamps produce negative ions or improve your health. Even Snopes has pronounced the claims false.
84 trace minerals: so what?
Pink Himalayan sea salt is advertised to contain "the 84 trace minerals valuable to the body." Naïve customers assume that more is better, and that we need more trace nutrients, so those 84 minerals ought to make pink Himalayan salt healthier than regular salt. That assumption is completely misguided.
Most sources list far fewer trace minerals and elements in the human body, from 41 to 60, some in barely detectable amounts. And many of those 60 are toxic and radioactive, not only useless to human physiology but harmful. Radioactive elements like uranium can be detected in trace amounts in the human body, but they should be considered contaminants, not useful nutrients.
I went back and looked at the spectral analysis. It is readily available online and reading it is illuminating. Only 15 minerals are known to play important roles in biological processes, and seven others are considered ""possibly essential but not confirmed." By my count, only about a quarter of the minerals in Himalayan pink salt are nutrients that the human body can or might be able to use. The other three quarters are not recognized nutrients and would be better classified as contaminants. They have no known health benefits, and many of them are known to be harmful. The list includes many poisons like mercury, arsenic, lead, and thallium. It includes radioactive elements: radium, uranium, polonium, plutonium, and many others. Radiation causes cancer, and even tiny amounts are potentially harmful. The amounts of most of them are listed as less than a certain amount, from <1 ppm to <0.001 ppm, which could mean anything. It could mean there is none present, but bragging about the 84 minerals contained in pink Himalayan sea salt means the company is claiming all 84 are present.
Ironically, two minerals on the list, technetium and promethium, are listed as unstable artificial isotopes! No amount is given, presumably because they decay to something else before they can be measured. How do you suppose these manmade elements found their way into that pure, natural, pristine, ancient Himalayan sea salt? The entire analysis is a tribute to how good our labs have gotten at detecting minuscule levels of contaminants that can be found everywhere in our environment. Some of the amounts measured are less than one part per billion.
Even for the acknowledged nutrients, the amounts in sea salt are not enough to correct a nutritional deficiency if a deficiency exists; and if you are not deficient and already have obtained (for instance) all the magnesium atoms your body can use from trace amounts in your diet, adding a few extra magnesium atoms from sea salt wouldn't be expected to improve your health in any way.
The study
The study they cite is described on the Himalayan Crystal Salt website. It was a 30 day double-blind placebo-controlled trial with 70 participants. 50 subjects were given a Himalayan Crystal Salt solution and told to take one teaspoon mixed into 8 oz of purified water upon rising. 20 subjects served as a control group and were given a placebo solution of a generic sea salt.
This does not appear to be a study published in a peer-reviewed journal. It is not listed on PubMed. They don't provide a citation, title, or authors' names. And their findings have not been replicated elsewhere; most published studies turn out to be wrong, so we should never believe a single study in isolation. They mention one corroborating reference: the book Water and Salt: The Essence of Life, which apparently offers only anecdotal patient reports. Neither the book nor the study constitute scientific evidence of health benefits.
The study used an "Optimal Wellness Test" that is computer-based and relies on a combination of 39 tests run on non-fasting urine and non-fasting saliva. The "Optimal Wellness Test" has not been validated and is not used anywhere except at Fenestra Labs, a questionable organization. RationalWiki characterizes Fenestra as a company that specializes in clinical trials for alternative medicine practitioners "in the cause of woo-laundering." And the study allegedly found improvements only in the test's measures of "mineralization, oxidative stress, and hydration." Improvements in lab numbers on a questionable test are not indications of meaningful improvements in human health. Do people who use sea salt live longer, have fewer heart attacks, have fewer colds? Do their wounds heal faster? Are they less likely to develop cancer? How could we possibly know they are "healthier"? They measured blood pressures 3 times during the study, and since they didn't comment on the results, we can assume that they were not even able to show that blood pressures went down, one of the benefits claimed for the product.
What about taste?
Even the claims that it tastes better are open to question. You can't really know if it tastes better until you do a blind taste test. Humans are notoriously good at fooling themselves when they think they know what they are getting. For instance, there was a study where they put the same wine in two bottles, identical except for the price tag, and subjects consistently said they preferred the taste of the wine in the bottle with the higher price tag. I would be very surprised if the average person could distinguish between food prepared with Himalayan salt and regular salt.
Even if it tasted better, would it taste enough better to justify the much higher price and the possible risks of exposure to radiation and poisons?
Conclusion: silliness, not science
There is no evidence that pink Himalayan sea salt is healthier than regular table salt; if anything, there is reason to suspect it might be less healthy. It's not "pure;" it's full of contaminants. Its popularity is a triumph of marketing over science and common sense.
Posted by Harriet Hall
Harriet Hall, MD also known as The SkepDoc, is a retired family physician who writes about pseudoscience and questionable medical practices. She received her BA and MD from the University of Washington, did her internship in the Air Force (the second female ever to do so), and was the first female graduate of the Air Force family practice residency at Eglin Air Force Base. During a long career as an Air Force physician, she held various positions from flight surgeon to DBMS (Director of Base Medical Services) and did everything from delivering babies to taking the controls of a B-52. She retired with the rank of Colonel. In 2008 she published her memoirs, Women Aren't Supposed to Fly.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/pink-himalayan-sea-salt-an-update/
Some of the comments on that last page... to show you just how stupid this planet has become:
Andrew Rowe • a year ago
I was at a market stall which was selling this pink salt. I asked "Does it have any chemicals in it, such as sodium chloride?", "oh NO!" exclaimed the vendor, "nothing chemical like that at all!" Enough said.
Angora Rabbit Andrew Rowe • a year ago
I did something similar at an upscale shop. Me: "It's pure?" Her: "Yes, it's pure Himalayan salt." Me: "But if it's pure, it shouldn't be pink. That's manganese. Pure salt is white." Her: "Oh, that's not true!" Eyeroll.
Windriven Angora Rabbit • a year ago
"Her: "Oh, that's not true!"
Welcome to the age of alternative facts.
What's in a Name Angora Rabbit • a year ago
Just checking: I was under the impression it was a variant of an iron oxide that made it pink. A quick google suggests that a blend of manganese and iron oxides might deliver the slightly salmonly pink I see in the Himalayan salt. It looks as though we should be using it to make steel and alloys rather than taking any pains to eat or, Wikipedia forbid, drink it.
ecafsub • a year ago
I do also want to point out that Himalayan salt isn't actually from the Himalayas. That's a marketing gimmick.
The salt comes from the Khewar Salt Mine, located in the foothills of the Salt Range hill system in the Punjab province of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is located approximately 190 miles (310 km) from the Himalayas
Not to be overly pedantic, but 190 miles *away* from a place means it's not *from* that place. After all, Shiner, TX is about 130 miles from Houston, but nobody claims Shiner beer is from Houston, and it's 60 miles closer to Houston than Khewar is to the Himalayas.
Obviously, "Pakistani Salt" doesn't have the same cachet.
Nell on Wheels ecafsub • a year ago
Well... technically the Salt Range is in the Himalayan frontal thrust zone, the youngest and the most southern part of the western Himalayan ranges in Pakistan, also known as the Lesser or Lower Himalayas.
Alan Capone • a year ago
but Himalayan pink sea salt is GMO-free!!!
(I have actually seen a brand of salt labeled this way. While technically true, it is about the same degree of relevant as declaring synthetic motor oil to be free of rainbow colored gingerbread cookies)
SirWired • a year ago
It's quite possible it does, indeed, taste different; the body is very good at detecting some of those "trace minerals". Certainly table salt even has a different taste vs. Kosher salt under certain circumstances, even though both are refined salts. And all those colorful sea salts also taste different, but it is hard to tease out if that's from the texture or the mineral content.
BTW, I think I found the most hilarious statement of all on that Mercola junk:
"With the use of rigorous advertising, the salt industry is successful in
convincing you that there are actually health advantages to adding
potentially toxic iodine and fluoride to salt.**
**Iodine is present in table salt in the iodate or iodide forms. The
iodide form is not very stable. The safety of these forms has not been
completely researched."
Okay, that's just normal Mercola fear-mongering... (and hilarious in and of itself: Iodide and Iodate are IONs, dip$hit; they can't be "unstable", unless you are an alchemist or using radioactive stuff.)
What's the hilarious bit? Later on, when extolling how it helps "Promote a Healthy Balance":
"(This salt does not supply iodide, a necessary nutrient.)"
You can't make this stuff up.
Topic unlocked now :D