
3D3DIodigum, iodine chewing gum.
$33 for a pack of gum? Well, it's an interesting antique pack of gum, I guess that's why it got bid up that high by gum collectors. (How do I know it was bid up by gum collectors, not element collectors? Because on eBay you can see who else bid on the item, and then you can look at what other items they have won recently. The other bidders on this item had bid mostly on old gum, gum advertisements, gum promotional items, and lady's handbags. No elements.)
I, of course, was bidding on it because of its elemental content, iodine, and I won. These days goiter, a painful and unsightly swelling of the thyroid glands in the neck, is virtually unknown in developed countries, because of iodized salt. Pretty much any normal salt you buy has a bit of iodine added to it, and a bit is all you need to prevent goiter. But before the deployment of iodized salt (why they picked salt I'm not sure), goiter could be a problem for people living in parts of the world where the soil was naturally low in iodine, meaning that their local vegetables, etc, didn't contain much iodine. This gum was sold for people to chew as a preventative: Today there would be no point because it's virtually impossible to not get enough iodine in a typical diet.
Source: eBay seller ddogmoxie
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 20 January, 2007
Text Updated: 11 March, 2007
Price: $33
Size: 3"
Purity: 1%
Sample Group: Medical