National banning time of betel nut

Since the beginning of this year, many places across the country have announced the news of banning the sale of betel nuts. In May this year, the Xishui County Market Supervision Administration of Guizhou Province launched the first shot to ban the sale of betel nuts. Then, on September 7,

Subsequently, the "forbidden sale tide" of betel nut began to spread to the whole country. Yiwu, Zhejiang and Nanchang, Jiangxi have also removed all local betel nut products.

Where should the betel nut industry, which makes tens of millions of people addicted, go?

The world has suffered from betel nut for a long time.

"Betel nut with cigarettes is boundless; Betel nut with wine will live forever. " I believe everyone has heard of this proverb.

According to the data of China market supervision, from 20 1 1 to 20 18, the output value of betel nut industry in China rose from 55.8 billion yuan to 7.81billion yuan, and kept rising.

In Hunan, Hainan and other places where betel nuts are rampant, there are the largest betel nut processing industries and consumers in China, and betel nuts once became a local characteristic product, driving local GDP to become a major industry.

It is worth mentioning that betel nut is a tropical product, which is native to Malaysia and mainly distributed in subtropical areas such as Yunnan, Hainan and Taiwan Province provinces in China.

According to the statistics of Hunan Areca Food Industry Association, the national areca food production enterprises are mainly distributed in Xiangtan, Yiyang, Changsha and other places in Hunan Province, driving the scale of related industries to exceed 50 billion yuan.

According to the investigation report of betel nut industry in Xiangtan City completed by the Bureau of Industry and Information Technology in the first half of 2022, as of 20021,there are 68 edible betel nut production enterprises in Xiangtan City, with an annual processing capacity of more than 200,000 tons of dried betel nuts, and the output value of the whole betel nut industry chain in the city is about 4 1 100 million yuan. According to the above report, Yiyang Weiwang Group has become the leader of betel nut industry in the province, and the fruit acquired every year exceeds 60% of Hainan's total output.

The president of a leading betel nut enterprise in Hunan once said: "It will develop into a 100 billion-level enterprise in the next decade", which shows that it has more and more confidence in the betel nut industry.

Such self-confidence comes from the most important feature of betel nut products themselves-addiction.

The popular betel nut used for food in the market usually refers to betel nut chews, which are mainly composed of betel nut, betel nut leaves, betel nut leaves, tobacco, inflorescences, hydrated lime and special seasonings. Betel nut and tobacco are the most important ingredients in betel nut chews.

Areca catechu contains many alkaloids, including arecoline and arecoline, which are rare in other plants. After chewing in people's mouth for 5 minutes, it can be absorbed through mucous membrane, which will cause fever, slight sweating, pleasant feeling and anti-hunger reaction, and also stimulate the brain and produce pleasant feeling.

The real harm of betel nut goes far beyond this.

The toxicological study of areca catechu shows that areca catechu has toxic effects on oral submucosal fibers, urogenital system toxicity and neurotoxicity, and induces and aggravates the harm of bronchial asthma. If you chew betel nut for a long time, your gums will be severely worn, your teeth will turn red and black due to corrosion, and even your teeth will become loose and lose their teeth. Some betel nuts are prone to dental calculus because of the addition of lime. There are many crude fibers in betel nut, which may stab the mouth and gums, block teeth and even cause inflammation.

Studies have shown that the risk of oral cancer in eat areca for a long time is 25 times that of the general population. During the ten years from 2006 to 20 16, the number of oral cancer caused by betel nut increased by 20 times.

In the article "Face Cutter in Areca Kingdom", Liu Sangguo, 43, was described as having most of his left face cut off. A year ago, he had an operation for oral cancer, and his left face, chin, gums and lymph were all removed. Shrink your face into a hole the size of a fist. The nerve in his left eye was compressed, and now he is completely blind. In September this year, 36-year-old singer Fu Song died of oral cancer. Before his death, he repeatedly sent the message of "cherish life and stay away from betel nut" to the public.

In fact, betel nut has long been listed as a first-class carcinogen by WHO. In 2003, betel nut, betel nut chewed with tobacco and betel nut chewed without tobacco were all listed as "1 carcinogen" in the list of 1 carcinogen (* * 120 species) of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization.

What is this concept? The toxic arsenic we are familiar with belongs to the first-class carcinogen.

It is worth mentioning that many countries such as Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Canada and Australia have identified betel nut as a drug or banned it according to law. In 20 17 years, betel nut was also listed as a carcinogen of 1 in China.

Areca catechu

From the words alone, you can feel the "chill" of betel nut itself.

As a carcinogen, betel nut has not been banned. Betel nut appears in the canteen and supermarket near the school. Students who go to buy betel nuts will not be stopped because of their identity and 18 years old. Some netizens even said that the spread of betel nuts has become wider and wider in recent years: "12 years ago, when buying a pack of betel nuts in Beijing, the driver had to drive for half an hour to find the point. Now, open the takeaway App and have a look, just beside you. "

In Hunan, betel nut has even become a common "hand gift" at weddings and funerals. As mentioned in the literature of Song Dynasty, "From Fujian to Sichuan and Guangdong West Road, everyone is in eat areca. Guests don't drink tea, but only take betel nut as a gift. Later, betel nut gradually became an essential thing in the wedding.

20 13 "Face Cutters in Areca Kingdom" once set off a stage climax of boycotting Areca. However, soon after the tide receded, under the crazy commercial marketing mode, the wind of chewing betel nut swept through again.

On the other side, variety shows, online dramas and even NBA events are full of betel nut advertisements. 20 16 this season, the advertisement of betel nut brand "Xiangyikou" appeared on the billboard next to the game of NBA Golden State Warriors VS Memphis Grizzlies, and it was transmitted to China through live footage. In fact, in 20 19, Hunan betel nut food industry association required all betel nut production enterprises in Hunan to stop all domestic advertisements from March 7 of that year.

China's regulatory policy on betel nut is becoming stricter, and more regulatory actions are coming. In 2020, the latest edition of the Catalogue of Food Production Licenses cancelled the category of "edible betel nut". This means that betel nut is no longer managed as food and food production licenses cannot be issued.

On 20021September 17, the General Office of the State Administration of Radio and Television issued a notice, demanding that from now on, the use of radio and television and online audio-visual programs to promote betel nut and its products should be stopped.