A risky stimulant thrives in China’s capital of chewing
Despite the danger to health, the betel-nut industry is booming
Betel nuts assail the nostrils before they thrill the tongue. At a shop in Xiangtan, a city in the central province of Hunan, they are sold in a dried form—dark and wrinkled in blue-and-white porcelain bowls, with flavourings of spice, mint, orange and cinnamon oil. They sell for a few yuan apiece (under $1).
A local song celebrates their ability to induce a bit of a buzz: 「The more you chew the betel nut, the livelier you』ll feel...Spit one out and pop another in.」 People in Xiangtan exchange them in greeting. From teenagers to elderly mah-jong players, the city’s residents chomp furiously to get their fix of the nut’s main stimulant, arecoline.
In 2017 China’s regulators named arecoline as a carcinogen (long after the World Health Organisation had done so). Also that year doctors in Hunan published findings that oral submucous fibrosis, a disease from chewing betel nuts that often leads to cancer, was 「widespread」 in the province, with rates much higher than elsewhere in China.
They predicted oral-cancer cases would become a 「humanitarian catastrophe」 in Hunan, rising from almost 25,000 in 2016 to 300,000 in 2030. Something to chew on, you would think.
Yet demand for the nut is swelling. Sales at the largest firms are growing at a yearly rate of 10%, according to the Hunan Betel-Nut Association in Xiangtan, where the industry took off in the 1980s (it was already well-established across the Asia-Pacific).
The business employs over 2m of Hunan’s 41m working-age adults. Most of them are involved in processing the betel nuts, which are the berries of areca palm trees. These are mainly grown on Hainan, a tropical-island province 1,000km away (where a peddler selling fresh nuts is pictured).
In February, as cases of covid-19 soared in China, the National Health Commission even included betel nuts in a prescription based on traditional Chinese medicine for removing 「dampness in the lung」. Firms in Hunan province handed out mask-and-betel-nut care packages to taxi drivers and street cleaners.
The head of a betel-nut association on Hainan island told state media a story often recounted in Xiangtan: a monk there survived a plague in the 17th century by continuous chewing of the nut.
The sector is adept at deflecting concerns. In March 2019 the association in Xiangtan said it was banning advertisements by local betel-nut firms. That seemed encouraging—until it emerged that, even under questioning by state media about the purpose of the move, the group would not admit to health concerns.
Compliance with the order was patchy. Since August a comedy show, 「Deyun Laugh Club」, has been watched 500m times. Among its sponsors is Wu Zi Zui (「Five Drunk Men」), one of Hunan’s biggest betel-nut producers. Opening ads for its goji-flavoured betel nut promise that chewing it will make watching the show 「even more fun」.
當一顆檳榔入口，首先感受到其滋味的不是舌頭，而是鼻子。在中國中部湖南省湘潭市的一家商店裡，一個青花瓷瓶子裡裝著炒幹的、發黑的、皺巴巴的、輔以香料、薄荷、陳皮、肉桂油等佐料的檳榔。每顆檳榔的售價不過幾塊錢（不到1美元）。
當地一首民謠更是展現了檳榔讓人「上頭」的能力：「檳榔越嚼越有勁，這口出來那口進。」湘潭人打招呼的方式便是遞上一顆檳榔。從朝氣蓬勃的年輕人到愛打麻將的老年人，這座城市的人們在檳榔鹼（檳榔中一種主要的興奮劑成分）的刺激下瘋狂地嚼著檳榔。
2017年，中國監管機構將檳榔鹼列為致癌物質（比世衛組織晚了幾年）。同年，據湖南的醫生公布的一項研究結果顯示，口腔黏膜下纖維化病變（一種因嚼檳榔而導致的疾病，嚴重者甚至會發展為癌症）的發生在湖南省「非常普遍」，其發病率遠高於中國其他地區。
他們預測，湖南省口腔癌患者的人數或將從2016年的近2.5萬例激增至2030年的30萬例，並最終將演變成一場「人道主義災難」。你可能會想，這東西有什麼好嚼的呢。
然而，人們對檳榔的需求量卻越來越大。據位於湘潭的湖南省檳榔協會的數據顯示，最大的檳榔生產商的年銷售額正在以10%的速度增長。湘潭的檳榔產業於上世紀80年代起步，如今已在整個亞太地區佔據了主導地位。
在湖南省的4100萬勞動適齡人口中，有200多萬人從事檳榔產業的相關工作，其中大多數人參與了檳榔的加工。檳榔是檳榔樹的果實，其主要生長在距離湖南1000公裡開外的熱帶島嶼省份海南島上（圖中所示正是一位售賣新鮮檳榔的小販）。
今年2月，隨著新冠肺炎疫情的爆發，國家衛健委甚至將檳榔列入一份祛除「肺溼」的中醫處方中。湖南省一些檳榔生產企業還向計程車司機和環衛工人發放含有「口罩和檳榔」的防疫健康包。
海南省檳榔協會的負責人向官方媒體講述了一個在湖南湘潭廣為流傳的故事：17世紀，湘潭的一個僧人正是靠著不斷嚼檳榔而在一場瘟疫中活了下來。
該行業善於解除人們的顧慮。2019年3月，湖南省檳榔協會表示，將禁止當地檳榔生產企業投放廣告。這似乎還算不錯——直到有消息傳出，即使在官方媒體質疑此舉目的的情況下，該協會仍絕口不提檳榔的健康問題。
而企業也並非都會執行禁令。自去年8月以來，喜劇綜藝節目《德雲鬥笑社》的播放量已超過5億，作為其贊助商之一的「伍子醉」正是湖南省最大的檳榔生產商之一。其在節目開場廣告中毫不避諱地宣傳著它的枸杞味檳榔——嚼檳榔，聽相聲「更樂一點」。
(本文選自《經濟學人》20201003期)
1.assail [əˈseɪl]
vt. 攻擊；質問
e.g.
Protesters assailed the proposed fare increase.
抗議者們抨擊了提價的提議。
2.mah-jong [ma:'dʒɔŋ]
n. 麻將
e.g.
We played mah-jong last night and I swept the board.
我們昨夜打麻將牌，我大獲全勝。
3.chomp [tʃɑːmp]
vi. 咬響牙齒；切齒
e.g.
I lost a tooth while chomping on a French baguette!
我在大口嚼法式長麵包時咬掉了一顆牙！
4.carcinogen [kɑːrˈsɪnədʒən]
n. 致癌物質
e.g.
Carcinogen that can irritate your throat, eyes and nose. Companies use it to keep products on the shelf longer.
刺激咽喉、眼睛和鼻子的致癌物。廠家往往用它來延長存儲期。
5.catastrophe [kəˈtæstrəfɪ]
n. 大災難；大禍；慘敗
e.g.
From all points of view, war would be a catastrophe.
從各個方面來看，戰爭都會是一場災難。
6.prescription [prɪˈskrɪpʃn]
n. 藥方；指示；慣例
e.g.
The new drug will not require a physician's prescription.
這種新藥不需要醫生的處方。
7.deflect [dɪˈflekt]
v. 轉向；偏斜
e.g.
She sought to deflect criticism by blaming her family.
她責怪她的家人，想這樣來轉移對她的批評。
6.patchy [ˈpætʃɪ]
adj. 零散的；不完整的；參差不齊的
e.g.
It was a patchy performance.
那是一場素質不齊的演出。