Betel nut, a hobby with a long history in China, has evolved into a creepy curse. Turning the page of history, we can find that as early as the Han Dynasty, chewing betel nut has become the daily behavior of many people in the origin of betel nut.
Over time, this small fruit took root in the South and gradually became an integral part of many people's lives.
According to official statistics in Taiwan, about 10% of the region's population regularly chews and eats betel nut, and in China's Hainan Province, the proportion is even more alarming, more than 38.42%, with the highest proportion of the population in the age group of 30 to 40 years old, reaching 50.36%.
This shows the high popularity of betel nut in these two regions.
With the transportation network extending in all directions, betel nut has blossomed everywhere in major cities. Its figure in a variety of fine packaging forms, deep into all corners of the city, has achieved remarkable results in the country.
Whether in a convenience store or a commissary, betel nut can be placed together with candy and snacks; In large supermarkets, it is freshly packaged and put on the shelves; Even on TV, it has become the title sponsor of variety shows, and now, the emergence of betel nut vending machines has made this product even more accessible.
However, despite the fact that the betel nut industry is so thriving, a worrying reality is emerging. The World Health Organization has identified betel nut as a first-class carcinogen, which means that betel nut is the highest level of carcinogen, along with nicotine in cigarettes and aflatoxin in moldy food.
What is even more shocking is that in countries such as Turkey, Singapore, U.A.E., Canada and Australia, betel nut is even considered a drug and is banned from sale by many European United States countries.
Since last year, some Chinese tourists have been arrested for bringing betel nuts into Turkey, and the incident has attracted widespread public attention. To this day, the case is still being heard, and the embassy even issued a statement on the night of the incident, reminding Chinese citizens not to bring betel nuts into the country.
However, despite these risks, the betel nut industry has developed a jaw-dropping market size in China. It is estimated that there are about 100 million betel nut consumers in the mainland, and the consumption value and processing value brought by the betel nut industry are huge, and the processing output value alone has reached as much as 3.5 billion.
This large chain makes it extremely difficult for any attempt to control it.
However, as time goes on, the dangers of betel nut become apparent, especially in hospitals, and its serious consequences become more and more intuitive. A small betel nut is threatening the health and lives of countless people in a jaw-dropping way.
The story of singer Fu Song is heartbreaking in the tragedy brought about by betel nut. In 2007, the young Fu Song participated in Hunan Satellite TV's "Happy Boy" talent show with a music dream. He successfully broke into the top 20 in the Changsha Division with his outstanding performance, showing his good musical talent.
Subsequently, Fu Song's music career was thriving, and his song "Crying While Singing" was very popular, and it also won him the Most Popular Male Singer of the Year Award in Guangzhou Pop Music At that time, Fu Song had a vision for the future in his eyes and a confident smile on the corner of his mouth, but fate played a cruel joke on him.
In 2016, Fu Song's life changed dramatically. He found out that he had a tumor on his face and rushed to the hospital. However, disastrous news awaited him: he had been diagnosed with oral cancer.
This bad news was like a hammer, shattering Fu Song's beautiful vision for the future.
At first, Fu Song was still optimistic and actively cooperated with the doctor's treatment. He also posted vlogs during the fight against cancer, sharing his experiences and trying to use his story to alert others. Despite the recurrence of cancer many times, he still faced it strongly, and reported safety to his fans who cared about him through live broadcasts.
Fu Song's strength and optimism touched many people, and everyone hoped that he could overcome his illness and return to the stage.
However, fate always seems to be extraordinarily cruel. Oral cancer recurred for the third time after repeated surgeries. In June 2023, Fu Song updated his Vlog for the last time. In the video, he is already unrecognizable, his face is covered with festering wounds, and the tumor is raised high, spreading from his face to his neck, which is shocking.
The once sunny and handsome singer can only weakly tell his pain to the camera at the moment.
In this final video, Fu Song shows deep helplessness and pain. He said that the greatest happiness now is to look forward to the pain of the wound at night and to be able to sleep well.
This trivial matter that ordinary people are accustomed to has become an extravagant hope that he desires in his heart, and Fu Song's words are full of attachment to life and cherishing health, and also contain warnings to others.
Fu Song's last sentence in the video: "I just want to use my own experience to tell everyone that betel nut is really scary." Even if one person could listen to me, I would be satisfied.
This sentence is heavy and heart-wrenching.
Sadly, in 2023, Fu Song, who is only 36 years old, will leave this world forever, leaving behind endless regrets and warnings. And the culprit of all this is the hobby he once took for granted - chewing betel nut.
It is understood that Fu Song's habit of chewing betel nut lasted for 6 years, which eventually led to this tragedy.
Fu Song's story is a vivid example of how betel nut ruthlessly takes a young man's life, shattering his dreams and leaving him with endless regrets. His experience should serve as a cautionary tale for all of us, reminding us to stay away from betel nut and cherish life.
In the gradual awakening of the awareness of the health threat of betel nut, although the pace of society is still in the embryonic stage, it shows that more and more people are beginning to face up to the dangers of betel nut.
As early as 1996, Xiamen was the first in the country to take action to ban the production and sale of betel nuts. This action predates when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) put betel nut on its "blacklist" in 2003, identifying it as a Class 1 carcinogen.
Elsewhere, however, awareness of the dangers of betel nut remains limited.
As time passed, the medical community began to pay attention to the health problems that betel nut brings. In 2017, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University published a paper that shocked the industry. The study showed that in the decade from 2006 to 2016, the proportion of oral cancer patients caused by betel nut soared from 23.94% to 85.53%, and the number of cancer patients increased nearly 20 times.
This shocking data has finally attracted widespread attention from all walks of life.
In this context, in 2017, the former State Food and Drug Administration officially included betel nut in the list of carcinogens. This behavior marks the beginning of attention to the dangers of betel nut at the national level.
In 2019, the National Health Commission proposed a plan to further intervene in high-risk behaviors such as betel nut chewing, and began to attract social attention. Since then, the Hunan Areca Nut Food Industry Association has also begun to ask its members to stop all advertising in the country.
Immediately afterwards, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a notice requiring the use of radio and television and online audio-visual programs to promote and promote betel nut and its products. This series of measures finally put the brakes on the wanton propaganda of betel nut.
However, the pace of regulation does not stop there. In 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation excluded "edible betel nut" from the latest revision of the "Classification Catalogue of Food Production Licenses". This means that betel nut is no longer considered a "food" in the legal sense, and no food production license can be issued, and no local standards for food safety can be established.
Although these measures came a little late, they have finally been remedied, and the society's awareness of the dangers of betel nut is gradually improving, and the regulatory measures are constantly improving. However, it will take more effort and time to completely change the status quo.
The tragedy of singer Fu Song is undoubtedly a heart-wrenching warning. It reminds us that harmless habits can hide great dangers. The young Fu Song's life was ruthlessly taken away by betel nut, leaving behind endless regrets and lessons.
In the face of the threat of betel nut, each of us should be vigilant. It is clear that betel nut is not an ordinary snack, but a substance with a high risk of causing cancer. We should stay away from betel nut, and at the same time, we should discourage our relatives and friends from trying it lightly.
As Fu Song said in the final video: "I just want to tell everyone from my experience that betel nut is really terrible, even if one person can listen to it, I am satisfied."
At the same time, we also hope that the government can formulate a clearer and stronger policy to regulate and manage the betel nut industry. Although there is still no unified and effective industry standard for the control of the betel nut market in mainland China, the treatment of the betel nut industry in the gray area has not yet been clarified.
However, we believe that as more and more people become aware of the dangers of betel nut, they will stand up and advocate for effective policies to be introduced as soon as possible.
Increasing public education to increase awareness of the dangers of betel nut is a critical step in reducing consumption. We can't let people who don't know much about betel nut just take it from the shelf, thinking it's a safe and reliable food, but actually putting themselves at risk.