The most recent and largest epidemiological study of goitre prevalence was published in 1989 [7]; nearly 60 000 schoolgirls between 11 and 17 years of age were studied in several areas in Sri Lanka. Goitre prevalence was established by teams of technicians who visited schools in a number of localities. Some areas had a high goitre prevalence (surprisingly including some coastal areas), whereas more urban areas such as Colombo had low goitre prevalence [8].