Do you know where the placenta goes after a pregnant woman gives birth? Regarding placental treatment, there are generally two directions: one is for hospitals to treat as "medical waste", and the other is to take home by oneself.
Among them, the basics of being taken home are "into" people's stomachs, because some people are convinced of the tonic effect of the placenta.
And what is the "destination" of those placentas that remain in the hospital? Perhaps it is circulating in the "black market".
First, the "black industrial chain" of the placenta was exposed
For the placenta, the former Ministry of Health issued a regulation as early as 2005: the sale of placenta is prohibited. However, due to reasons such as the drive for interests, there are still many people who seek profits from it.
After investigation, the surging news found that driven by huge profits, some traffickers will buy human placenta in large quantities from hospitals, medical waste treatment plants and other places across the country at an average price of 80, and after processing and packaging, they will become "purple river cars" for Chinese herbal medicines and flow into the medicinal materials market.
The risks are not mentioned, such as the presence of viruses such as HBV, HIV, treponema pallidum and other viruses in the placenta, and traffickers do not care. Traffickers also said they sold about 130,000 fresh artificial placentas in 2020 alone.
The placenta that is acquired can be sold twice in two forms:
First, fresh goods, directly mailed to the buyer, the unit price is between 450-480, more to mention, the placenta also has the phenomenon of "son preference", and the price of the male placenta is relatively expensive;
The second is to process into dry goods, a dry placenta price is about 1000, into the medicinal materials market, or ground into powder, made into placenta capsules.
It can be seen that the price of the placenta is still relatively high, but many people are still willing to eat. The reason for this is mainly because people think that the placenta can nourish the body, prevent diseases, and who eats benefits. So, is the placenta really that good?
Second, why Chinese are keen to eat the "placenta"
The legendary "placenta" is called a treasure, not only a rapid recovery after childbirth, hair becomes black, but also can strengthen the body and cure all diseases, do you believe these effects? To know if it has these effects, we need to understand what the placenta is.
In simple terms, it is a key organ for the exchange of substances between the fetus and the mother, and the fetus's eating and drinking is transmitted through the placenta, but the two maintain considerable independence.
When it comes to eating placenta, it still originates in China. It has been recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that the dry placenta, known as the "Purple River Car", can be used to treat impotence and infertility.
In addition, people at that time blindly admired the "shape complement", believing that the placenta was transmitting nutrients, and eating it must also be nourishing.
But in fact, some of the records in the Compendium of Materia Medica are also derived from folktales and oral histories.
And so far, the safety of the placenta has not been guaranteed, coupled with ethical issues involved, so in 2015, the Chinese Pharmacopoeia kicked the Zihe car out of the list of medicinal materials.
Third, the consumption of placenta, is it nourishment or death?
Claims that eating placenta is beneficial have never been scientifically proven, but the risks of eating placenta have been identified.
The first study of the structure of the human placental genome led by the University of Cambridge, the global authoritative journal Nature, analyzed 37 placentas (a total of 86 biopsies and 106 microanatomical samples) and sequenced the whole genome.
In the end, it was found that the normal genomic structure of the placenta was different from other human organs, but more similar to tumors, with the same genetic mutations as many childhood cancers.
In addition, the placenta also has the risk of contracting diseases, because some placenta may carry pathogenic microorganisms such as HBV, HIV, and treponema pallidum, thus infecting diseases such as hepatitis B, AIDS, and syphilis.
Therefore, it is still not recommended that you eat placenta.
Fourth, placental trading, where to go?
Generally speaking, for the treatment of the placenta, it is generally first owned by the mother (limited to the placenta of healthy women, and infectious diseases can only be destroyed by the hospital), and if they give up or donate the placenta, they can be disposed of by medical institutions.
However, due to the existence of the "superstitious consumption placenta supplement" theory, there are huge profits to be made, so it is difficult to avoid some "black market transactions".
In this regard, Liu Yu, director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Wuhan Jianghan Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, believes that at present, there is still a lack of clear regulations on the formal source and market use of Zihe car, if the quality of the medicinal human placenta can be controlled from the root, then the standardized use of the Purple River car is still meaningful for some patients.
Jia Yang, director of the Shanghai Municipal Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also gave his own suggestions: he hoped that the state could clearly stipulate a legal and compliant "donation compensation" channel, and appropriately subsidize some costs incurred by donors in the donation process.
For the acquisition of placenta, it must be obtained legally, standardizedly and safely by a qualified unit after obtaining a license.
Summary: The placenta may not be as "good" as everyone thinks, there may be a risk of infection with diseases, so it is recommended that you eat cautiously, there is so much "meat" under the sky, why cling to this placenta with safety hazards.
Resources:
[1] "Secret visit to the black market of the placenta (content may cause discomfort, but the problem is serious)". The Paper.2021-03-15
[2] "What are people who eat placental supplements?" 》. Eleventh Consultation Room. 2021-04-12
[3] Nature: The genomic structure of the placenta is similar to that of a tumor! The first study on the genomic structure of the human placenta found that the placenta is a "trash can" for storing genetic defects丨The Great Discovery of Science". Singularity.2021-03-22
Reproduction without the author's permission is prohibited