What are some of the other uses for salt?
The largest single use for salt in the U.S. is for de-icing roads. It is also used in pharmaceuticals, and there are numerous refined saline solutions that are used in medicine. It is also used in textiles, papermaking, and many other industries. There are many types of salt besides sodium chloride — potassium chloride is used for fertilizer, magnesium chloride in metalmaking. Sodium chloride for food has become one of the less-important commercial aspects of the modern salt market. Q: What is working in a salt mine like? Can people make a decent wage at it? A: To ask about the wages and conditions of salt workers is like asking about farmers — it depends on the crop and the society. Salt workers in India and sub-Saharan Africa have horrible conditions. In large operations in the U.S., Germany, or France, they have [similar working conditions] as other factory workers in those countries. Salt mines are not dangerous the way coal mines are. Sea-salt workers, to my thinking, have a mor
