The article of Gutelius et al., called "Nutritional Studies of Children with Pica" (Pediatrics, 29:1012, 1962) has just come to my notice. I would like to compare my experiences in Klerksdorp, a mining town in the Western Transvaal, Republic of South Africa. In Klerksdorp I deal mainly with white patients of good nutritional status and "middle-class" income group. Housing is good, and every house has its own garden.
My cases of pica fall into the sand-eating grouponly one in 36 which I've investigated had a craving for cigarette ash, and none for paper, plaster, dirt, or laundry starch.