Text | X Explorer
It is known as the strongest "biochemical weapon" in the plant kingdom, and 7 grains can kill people. More toxic than cobras, it is listed as an important strategic substance by the United States, but it is very common in rural China.
In China, the planting area and yield even ranked first in the world, what kind of plant is it? Why is it so common in our country for the United States to pay so much attention? Today's explorer Ali will take everyone to reveal the secret together, as a two-faced faction in the plant world, why is it said that it is full of treasures, and it is also the "perfect poison" of the assassination world?
To clarify how the plant's poison was discovered by humans, one would have to turn back the clock to the assassination of a British BBC journalist in 1978.
On this day in September 1978, George Markov, a reporter from London, England, waited at the bus stop as usual to take the bus to work, but when he squeezed on the bus, he suddenly noticed a tingling pain in his thigh, as if he had been pricked by a needle, and he looked back and found that there was nothing unusual around him.
So he didn't take the matter to heart, and when he came home from a day's work, he suddenly had a high fever, weakness, and intense vomiting. His family rushed him to the hospital for rescue, but 3 days later, Markf was declared ineffective and died. This incident caused quite a stir at the time.
Later, during the autopsy, it was found that Markf's thigh was injected with a poison containing ricin, and it was this poison of only 0.45 mg that killed Markf.
So where does this ricin come from, and how toxic is it? At this point, you may have guessed a little, but in fact, this castor toxin is a toxin extracted from a plant called castor. It is said that the toxicity of this toxin is very strong, everyone knows that cobras contain high venom, the most toxic Philippine cobra, its super toxicity will kill the victim quickly in just one hour.
However, it is said that ricin is more toxic than cobras, and can reach 2-3 times the toxicity of cobras. Adults only need to take 7 capsules, and the next second may be to soar to Elysium. A kilogram of ricin could bring down millions of people in minutes. If it weren't for the Macv poisoning incident, who would have thought that a toxin that only came from the body of a plant would be so terrible.
And until now, humans have not developed a way to remove ricin very well. Under normal circumstances, even if you are sent to the hospital in time after accidental ingestion, even if you are lucky enough to get a life, it may lead to serious organ damage and failure.
Therefore, ricin has since been named the strongest "biological and chemical weapon" in the plant kingdom, and has even been used in many assassination operations in the international community. As recently as 2020, someone even sent a letter containing ricin to the White House, and the recipient was former President Trump of the United States.
The incident caused a stir in the White House, after which all letters sent to the White House and washington-area government agencies were subjected to specialized radiation monitoring and related air sampling. If no abnormality is found, it can be sent according to normal procedures.
In fact, it is reported that this ricin was officially listed as an illegal substance by the US Congress as early as 2019, and if you want to obtain such toxins, you must pass legal registration and strict review to obtain it.
However, such a highly toxic plant is very common in China, especially in rural areas, and has even been widely cultivated in some parts of our country.
It turned out that this plant, although highly toxic, was full of treasures and had high economic value. Take his blades, for example, which are shield-shaped and round. Not only is it a common importance, the medicine can play a role in reducing swelling and dampness, but also can be used to raise castor silkworms, and the spit silk can be used to make clothes. Of course, in addition to the leaves, even the stem bark is of great use, because the stem skin contains a lot of fibers, so it can be used to make paper, and even to make rope.
But the most precious thing about castor is its seed. The oil content of castor beans itself can reach about 50%, so many people call it "oil grown from the land". Although the oil fried with castor beans contains toxin proteins, as long as a certain procedure is passed, the toxin proteins in it can be removed. However, it is still not suitable for human consumption.
However, the oil refined from castor beans has certain particularities, because this oil not only has high viscosity, but also has a low freezing point, which can not only withstand high temperatures, but also will not freeze and solidify in low temperature environments. This is a characteristic that no other oil type has.
Therefore, it is precisely because it is different from the characteristics of other oils, castor oil is widely used in industrial oilseeds, and it can be seen in many industries such as chemical, electromechanical and metallurgical fields. In addition, castor oil after a certain means of treatment, can also be used as a medicine, has the effect of slowing diarrhea, etc., but the use of the need to strictly follow the doctor's instructions to avoid any unexpected situation.
In fact, the most important role of castor oil is that as one of the top ten oils in the world, it has been regarded by many countries as one of the most ideal alternatives to oil. As we all know, with the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution, oil replaced the media as the main fuel for a period of time, and since then oil has played an indispensable and important role in all aspects of human life. But as the application of oil becomes more and more widespread, the oil resources on the earth are also slowly decreasing.
However, as a non-renewable resource, if the oil resources on the earth face a depletion situation in the future, then the entire industrial system and even human life may face a total collapse.
So, in order to avoid this tragedy, countries around the world are also trying to find clean energy that can replace oil. Through the study of castor oil by experts, it has been found that some substances that can be extracted from petroleum can be found in similar extracts in castor oil.
Such a discovery has made many experts see hope, unlike oil is not renewable, if the future through the relevant technology, castor oil can really become a clean energy to replace oil, then it can be quickly regenerated through large-scale planting, it has great significance and value.
Therefore, the United States not only listed ricin as an illegal substance, but also listed castor as one of the eight major strategic materials in China a long time ago. Of course, not only the United States, France for the ricinne oil purification technology, is listed as a national first-class secret. This shows the important position of castor in the international community. So what is the status of castor cultivation in China? Why didn't our country study and utilize castor oil earlier?
In fact, in the 1950s, China also set off a period of planting castor boom, and even in order to increase some income, many people will change their own farmland to plant castor, and even once, China became the country with the largest area of castor planting.
However, the reason why the area planted later became smaller and smaller, first, because although China ranked first in the world in the area of castor cultivation, in fact, the yield of castor was not high, and secondly, with the rise in grain prices after the 90s, many people have changed to planting grain.
However, after all, castor cultivation has been popular in China for a period of time, although it has been gradually abandoned, but it can also be seen on the roadside of many rural areas in China. And in the 1990s, China also studied a hybrid variety of castor. With the emergence of this hybrid variety, the yield of castor gradually increased, and it is not only more drought-tolerant but also salt-tolerant, so in many simple environments, castor can also survive smoothly.
However, we also mentioned earlier that castor can be said to be full of treasures and has important value in many industrial production, so every year China also needs a large amount of castor. According to relevant statistics, China is expected to need 800,000 tons of castor every year, but now the output of castor in China is only about 300,000 tons, which is a long-term shortage of demand.
Therefore, our country also needs to spend money to import a lot from India. Because castor itself is a tropical plant, it is widely distributed in the tropics of the world, and the earliest castor planted in China was also introduced from India. So how do you change the status quo and get rid of imports from other countries?
In fact, the best solution is that first of all we need to pay attention to the shortage of castor supply in our country. From the current situation, the area of castor in China is about 3 million mu, from this figure, it seems that it is not less, but in fact, the output is less than 200,000 tons, the reason why the output is so small, in the final analysis, is still a technical problem. Although China has studied related hybrid varieties and improved production, from the perspective of reality, there is still a long way to go.
Therefore, whether it is in the planting technology of castor or the research of better castor seeds, it is necessary to increase scientific research investment.
Secondly, it can also increase the enthusiasm of the people to replant castor. If the people can taste the sweetness brought by the cultivation of castor, then it is not difficult to achieve a larger batch of castor cultivation in the future. However, to do professional things, of course, it is also necessary for professionals to provide more planting experience and technology.
Finally, with the development of science and technology, more and more animals and plants in nature have been found to have higher use value, who could have imagined that the weeds and other things that we often saw on the side of the rural roads when we were young would become a strategic resource that many countries in the international community attached importance to. Therefore, protecting the diversity of animals and plants and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature are still things we need to pay attention to.