Regarding betel nut, it has always been controversial! On one side is the favorite food of the Chinese people, while on the other side is about its "soft drug" nature. On the one hand, there are 60 million loyal "chewing powder" in the world, while on the other hand, it is strictly controlled like drugs in Turkey. On the one hand, the doctors say that the carcinogenic risk, while on the other side is 15 yuan a pack, the price is rising year by year, supporting the market sales of hundreds of millions of output values. What kind of species is betel nut?
A few days ago, the Global Times and other authoritative media reported that a number of Chinese citizens carrying betel nuts into Turkey, which was originally strictly controlled by betel nuts, were arrested. It may seem a bit too much for many people, but in Turkey, this is the case, and betel nut is considered a DU product. Betel nut, which is known as a casual snack, has rarely become an explicit prohibition, and the 100 billion industrial chain kingdom involving more than 60 million consumers seems to be on the verge of collapse! No, this time our country has also struck hard!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > punch hard! The "soft drug" betel nut was banned by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television</h1>
On September 17, Beijing time, the General Office of the State Administration of Radio and Television issued a notice on stopping the use of radio, television and online audio-visual programs to publicize and promote betel nut and its products. Regarding the introduction of this measure, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said that it is also to safeguard the interests of the people and create a good communication environment. But such a big rectification effort, and so suddenly, really stunned a lot of loyal betel nut fans.
It is worth noting that in fact, betel nut has triggered a small upsurge of national boycotts a long time ago. It all started with a 2013 article titled "The Face Cutter in the Betel Nut Kingdom" and a documentary of the same name that followed. In articles and documentaries, there are horrific descriptions and pictures of "cutting off the tongue, cutting off the gum, oral cancer, cutting off the jaw" and so on because of the betel nut, and Liu Sangguo, a xiangtan person, is one of the encounterers. Step by step, until 2013, he was completely blind.
Talking about betel nut from the previous casual snack, transformed into a "carcinogenic soft drug", people talk about betel nut discoloration. But under the crazy business chain, after resisting the small climax, the betel nut did not have any big waves. What species is betel nut? What is the picture behind the betel nut "risking death" to chew the betel nut? Let's let the Rubik's Cube give you a popular science!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > betel nut</h1>
Betel nut, native to Malaysia. In China, it is mainly distributed in tropical areas such as Yunnan, Hainan and Taiwan, and is also widely cultivated in subtropical areas such as Hunan that like to chew betel nut. Betel nut, a kind of evergreen tree belonging to the monocotyledonous plant, is very tall, usually more than 10 meters long, and the highest is 30 meters. The leaves grow from the top of the stem and have distinct ring-like leaf marks on the leaves. The fruit is oblong or ovoid, and the flowering and fruiting period is about 3 months to 4 months.
According to relevant statistics, there are 36 species of betel nut in the world, mainly distributed between 28° north and south latitudes. In China, betel nut also has betel nut, olive, green boy, big belly and other other names. In daily life, in addition to being an ornamental crop, betel nut is also a chewable food that is preferred by southern China and some ethnic minorities. Because of this special habit, there are also many related products and products on the market.
There is no denying that betel nut does have its own unique nutritional value! Experts have tested that betel nut contains more than 20 kinds of trace elements, of which 11 are essential trace elements. At the same time, the economic value is also very high, it is reported that in Hainan, Taiwan and Hunan and other places since ancient times there has been the habit of consuming betel nut, the market is very large.
Due to the huge consumer market to promote, per hectare can plant 1500 to 2000 plants of scale, the yield of a single plant can reach about 30 kg, the processing output value can reach 3.5 billion yuan, China has 60 million people for it to stop, resulting in hundreds of millions of economic benefits, providing 200,000 jobs.
In traditional medicine, betel nut also has medicinal value! It is reported that because betel nut has the effects of insecticide, rupture, deflation stagnation, moisture and so on, it is often used to treat parasitic infections such as roundworms, circumferential worms, hookworms and so on. Even in folklore, there is a saying that babies are given a four-mill soup with betel nut to prevent children from upsetting their stomachs. Although the efficacy is not known, it is true that betel nut is widely used in medicine. The Food and Drug Administration has revealed that as many as 225 drugs in China contain betel nut.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > the "contrast between betel nut market demand and international positioning"</h1>
It is true that betel nut itself is not entirely bad, but according to today's development trend, it is indeed not a good thing. China is a big consumer of betel nut, especially in Hunan, which is famous for chewing betel nut and creates an annual output value of 30 billion yuan. According to the AI Finance and Economics Agency's inquiry tianyancha APP, there are more than 14,000 enterprises in the national name or business scope that contain "betel nut", and from a regional point of view, the top three enterprises in the country are more than 7,000 in Hunan, more than 4,900 in Hainan, and another 328 in Guangdong.
In August 2021, another news about betel nut sparked a heated upsurge: the Chinese Consulate General in Istanbul issued a reminder that under Turkish law, betel nut has been identified as a drug because it contains hallucinogenic betel nut. In addition, in Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and Thailand and other countries have clearly banned the sale and import of betel nut, the United States, Australia and other countries although the degree of strict control is not to the level of "DU products", but import and export and sales are strictly controlled. At this point, betel nut is considered an internationally recognized "soft drug"!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="44" > from 15 yuan a pack to 100 yuan a pack! Why does radio and television "give a hard hand"? </h1>
In fact, in the beginning, betel nut as a snack was basically at the price of about 15 yuan a pack. However, with the increase of betel nut products and more and more patterns in some places, there is actually a sky-high price of 100 yuan a pack of betel nuts. For example, in 2020, the high-end brand of Taste King Group and Cheng tianxia released a "100 yuan new product" betel nut in Changsha.
It is worth mentioning that experts have also said that chewing betel nut will damage the oral mucosa even if it does not cause cancer, causing many oral and gastrointestinal diseases. The oral director of Longhua District People's Hospital also pointed out that betel nut because it contains betel nut that stimulates the secretion of epinephrine, it can play a refreshing and energy-enhancing effect when chewing, and at the same time enhance the experience of pleasure and happiness, once addicted, it is difficult to quit.
In addition, the health problems caused by betel nut are also very interesting! The World Health Organization's International Agency for Cancer has published data that betel nut is a Class 1 carcinogen. Among them, the main ingredient of carcinogen, betel nut and betel nut subgenine, has a content of up to 0.3%-0.6% in the seed, such a dose, it will not be long before people's teeth will slowly turn black, and even the face will be deformed, which are the terrible harms of betel nut.
It is precisely in view of this that the international community has strictly cracked down on betel nut, and China's national radio and television has also officially "laid down a fierce hand": it is explicitly prohibited to sell and publicize betel nut and its products, and the market for betel nut is injected with "tranquilizer".
However, as the saying goes, a few joys and a few sorrows, when the betel nut encounters a cold winter, those who are already "addicted" to the betel nut may still not stop chewing. But how to say it, the state is also from the perspective of health, and perhaps it is also taking into account economic development, so it is not completely prohibited. But everything has a process, although the attack on betel nut is also very controversial, when choosing to eat betel nut, you still have to start from multiple angles, think about it carefully, and then "bite".