01. The sale of betel nuts is prohibited in many places
A few days ago, Zhejiang Yiwu announced a "permanent ban" on betel nut, requiring all retail stores in Yiwu not to sell, this news immediately caused heated discussions, and netizens have heated discussions.
As early as 2020, the state cancelled its qualification as food, so the complete ban on betel nut is only the issue of enforcement, and there is no obstruction in the law.
In fact, not only Yiwu, but also many other places have regulations prohibiting the sale of betel nuts. For example, in 1996, the Xiamen government announced a ban on the production and consumption of betel nuts.
Since the beginning of this year, many places have announced a ban on the sale of betel nuts. For example, the Xishui County Municipal Supervision Bureau urges the merchants to remove betel nuts from the shelves, and will carry out special clean-up work.
In early September, the Sichuan Huidong County Municipal Supervision Bureau launched a special rectification work on betel nuts, requiring operators to remove all betel nut products from the shelves.
On September 13, southern Sichuan counties also demanded that betel nuts be removed from the shelves and that no betel nut products should be sold; on September 16, Chengdu's Xinjin District also announced that it would further strengthen the control of betel nut sales, and focus on investigating convenience stores, supermarkets and other areas.
On the same day that Yiwu announced the ban, Yingshan County also announced that it would not be allowed to operate betel nut products, and once sold, it would be immediately removed from the shelves and punished.
It can be seen that betel nut has been banned in many places across the country.
02. The 100 billion industry was forced to press the pause button
Areca nut is a tropical plant, which is currently only cultivated in Hainan, Yunnan, Fujian and Taiwan provinces in mainland China, of which Hainan is the main production province and Hunan is a large processing and consumption province.
There are more than 20 kinds of trace elements in betel nut, as well as amino acids, sucrose and other substances, and people in Taiwan and Hainan love to eat betel nut since ancient times. Since the 80s, the betel nut industry has ushered in rapid development, and the local government has also vigorously supported it.
Due to the lack of policy prohibition, from 2011 to 2018, the scale of the betel nut industry rose from 55.8 billion yuan to 78.1 billion yuan, and it is very likely to become the next 100 billion industry. The development of betel nut has also driven the employment of relevant upstream and downstream industrial chains, providing a large number of jobs for the majority of workers.
However, we still cannot ignore the dangers of betel nut, which has been internationally classified as a first-class carcinogen since 2003.
Although many enthusiasts claim that "betel nut and cigarette have boundless mana", in fact, long-term consumption of betel nut will increase the chance of oral cancer.
For example, on the 10th of this month, singer Fu Song passed away, he was only 36 years old, and the cause of his death was because of his love for betel nut, and he was found to have oral cancer in 2016, but he continued to indulge in betel nut and reached the level of addiction.
As a result, oral cancer recurred in 2021, and in order to save his life, he had to cut off half of his face and chin, and in June this year, the condition continued to recur, and his upper body ulcerated, which made people look shocking.
Since 2021, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has announced a ban on the promotion of betel nut products on online platforms and TV programs, which has had a huge impact on the betel nut industry of 100 billion yuan. And now, the ban on the sale of betel nut in many places has sounded the death knell for this industry.
03. What are the dangers of betel nut?
Some people are curious, what is the harm of betel nut?
Betel nut is addictive, as long as people are hooked, they will not be able to turn back, eat it as a snack day and night, overtime, when driving, in order to refresh the mind, many people will also eat betel nut.
However, betel nut is very hard, and repeated chewing in the mouth will cause damage to the oral mucosa, and the teeth will also be worn out, which will make the teeth black and loose, the gums will recede, the teeth will fall out, and it will be difficult to open the mouth. At the same time, long-term chewing will also change the appearance and make the person very ugly.
When chewing, the sense of taste will also be reduced, and the tongue is often numb and painful, and the words are not clear. However, the biggest harm is to induce oral cancer.
According to medical studies, people who chew betel nut are 8.4-9.9 times more likely to suffer from oral cancer than ordinary people. Hunan Xiangya Hospital has found that among the 50 inpatients in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 45 suffered from oral cancer, and 44 had the habit of eating betel nut for a long time.
The alkaloids in betel nut such as areca nut and arecine have carcinogenic factors, including arsenic trioxide, which is called arsenic, which shows how toxic betel nut is.
In 2017, the mainland officially listed betel nut as a first-class carcinogen. However, many people are curious, why the mainland has long listed it as a carcinogen, but it has not issued a policy to completely ban its sales?
04. Why not ban the sale completely?
1. There are too many sales groups
In the past, the main consumers of betel nut were people in Hunan and Hainan, but with the rise of the Internet, many places have begun to eat betel nut, because there are too many consumer groups, if the direct ban is banned, some people are addicted to it, so they need to give a buffer time.
2. The industrial chain is huge
The economic value behind the betel nut is very high, and the growers and workers can get income from the betel nut industry chain. For example, in Hainan, there are 700,000 people engaged in betel nut cultivation, and another 300,000 people in the upstream and downstream processing industries.
Because of this, the state did not choose to directly ban sales. Of course, betel nut is not without value, it has insecticidal, edema and other effects in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, and it is also widely used.
Although the official has not yet completely banned the sale, everyone should also control their mouths and try not to eat betel nut, so as to stay away from the harm.