China News Service, Beijing, September 16 (Wei Xianghui) The death of singer Fu Song made betel nut on the cusp of public opinion again. Netizens rushed to emphasize "betel nut is deadly" and "banned betel nut"... Although the relevant departments have made repeated orders, professional Medical institutions have also done health science popularization, and the voices of controversy are ups and downs.

For the betel nut industry with a scale of nearly 100 billion yuan, advertising and product "identity" are also two major problems.

The picture shows the betel nut plantation.

Photo by Huang Yi

carcinogenic risk

　　On the 10th, singer Fu Song died of oral cancer at the age of 36.

When his friend mourned him, he said: "May he have a good journey, and may he be in another world, no more betel nut, no pain, no cancer."

　　In June this year, Fu Song updated a short video for the last time, revealing to netizens that his oral cancer had recurred three times, and he also showed the festering wound on his face.

"I just wanted to tell everyone from my experience that betel nut is really scary," he said.

　　Long-term chewing of betel nut can increase the risk of oral cancer in the population, which is mainly related to the formation of nitroso compounds by the chemical substances contained in betel nut after chewing, and also related to the fact that betel nut is hard and can easily cause mechanical trauma to the oral mucosa.

In 2003, the International Center for Research on Cancer identified betel nut as a first-class carcinogen.

When the former State Food and Drug Administration announced the list of carcinogens in 2017, betel nut was listed as a first-class carcinogen.

　　A popular comment below Fu Song's short video said, "It may be a miscellaneous brand of betel nut, and there should be no problem with xx (a brand name of betel nut)."

　　In the opinion of some enthusiasts, betel nut is not the culprit that damages life.

Just like cigarettes, the words "long-term consumption of betel nut is harmful to health" are also printed on the outer packaging of betel nut, which does not prevent them from selling well in small shops in the streets and alleys.

Various brands of betel nuts can be found on e-commerce platforms.

Propaganda Ban

　　The health effects of betel nut consumption have also limited publicity.

On September 17, 2021, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued a notice deciding to stop using radio, television and online audio-visual programs to promote and sell betel nut and its products from now on.

　　In fact, the betel nut industry has already formed a large-scale industrial chain.

The upper reaches are millions of betel nut planting farmers in Hainan, the middle reaches are Hunan betel nut processing enterprises worth nearly 10 billion and a large area of ​​employment problems, and the professional sales team of downstream betel nut is also constantly expanding, extending to the whole country.

　　According to media reports, according to statistics, there are 600 million betel nut eaters in the world, and as many as 60 million in China.

According to data from a third-party organization, the annual market demand for betel nut in my country from 2016 to 2020 is more than 100,000 tons.

It is estimated that by 2025, the output value of China's betel nut industry will exceed 100 billion yuan.

Screenshot of the ban on the promotion and promotion of betel nut and its products issued by the State Administration of Radio and Television.

embarrassing "identity"

　　Compared with the publicity ban, the betel nut industry is probably more worried about the "identity" issue.

　　"Edible betel nut" is not included in the "Food Production License Classification Catalogue" (referred to as the "Catalogue") newly revised by the State Administration for Market Regulation of China in 2020.

Chinanews.com used "betel nut" as the key word to search the information query platform of food license-certified enterprises and found that the validity period of the certificates of many betel nut processing plants has expired.

　　In order to solve this problem, the representatives of the people's congresses in Hunan and Hainan suggested to carry out research on the "medicine and food homology" of betel nut and list it in the relevant catalogues.

　　In March 2021, the "Reply to Recommendation No. 1427 of the Third Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress" issued by the National Health and Health Commission clearly stated that the National Health and Health Commission did not approve betel nut as a new food raw material and did not include it in the food and drug quality catalog. , Betel nut (fruit) is not suitable for formulating food safety standards.

　　The reply also stated that in response to the representative's suggestion that Hunan chewing betel nut and betel nut processing has a long history, a huge industrial chain has been formed, involving millions of people's employment and economic sources, and proposed that the local people's congress formulate and promulgate relevant management regulations. , to solve the positioning and supervision of Penang processed products.

The National Health and Health Commission supports local governments to reform and innovate management methods based on the actual situation, guide the healthy and standardized development of betel nut-related industries, and will actively cooperate with related work in accordance with their duties.

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