In recent years, I have often met some friends who sent me some pictures of potted plants, saying that I suddenly saw on the Internet that they were carcinogenic plants, but I happened to have them at home. I am very worried. Do you want to throw them away? Some micro-friends even sent links to articles, such as "Don’t leave these 52 kinds of cancer-causing plants at home", "Please stay away from these cancer-causing plants" and "80 kinds of common toxic or cancer-causing plants" … What’s more, it is said that a couple of flower farmers who have been planting flowers for a long time in Foshan City have suffered from nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
For a time, flower friends talked about the change of colors, "expelling the culprit of cancer" and "cleaning up the door", which meant that these plants were wiped out. In fact, is this really the case?
The statement comes from a paper nearly 30 years ago.
It is understood that this statement originated from a paper "Screening of Chinese Herbs and Plants Inducing Early Antigen Expression of Epstein—Barr Virus" by Academician Ceng Yi from Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Preventive Sciences. According to the article, "1693 species of plants (Raji cells with EB virus as experimental objects) were screened, and 52 of them were found to have the effect of inducing the early antigen expression of EB virus". And these 52 plants happen to be the "52 carcinogenic plants" transmitted by the Internet.
This paper was first published in 1992, almost 30 years later. The news of cancer-causing plants still appears in tabloids, Weibo and friends circle from time to time, and is often mentioned by people. Let the flower growers tread on thin ice, and create many unjust, false and wrong cases of flowers and plants.
Epstein-Barr virus is a virus isolated from people with lymphoma. 90%-95% people have been infected by this virus, but most of the time it will not affect human health. Only under the external stimulation, EB virus will suddenly "wake up" and start to replicate in large numbers, which will make the signal pathway controlling normal differentiation and proliferation in cells abnormal, thus causing cancer. Horribly, the activity of EB virus will promote other carcinogenic viruses (such as SV40 virus) to start activities.
It is found that the secondary metabolites produced by some plants can activate EB virus, make it wake up and become an active replication state, so these secondary metabolites are called "cancer-promoting" substances. For example, croton oil extracted from croton seeds has a strong ability to induce early antigens of EB virus.
However, it can be seen from the above description that plants themselves do not produce EB virus, and even some cancer-promoting substances released into the soil through fallen leaves or roots are only accomplices, not masterminds, in causing cancer. Therefore, the statement that these plants "contain carcinogenic viruses" on the Internet is groundless and a misunderstanding of scientific papers.
Plants containing cancer-promoting substances can still be domesticated.
Can 52 kinds of plants containing cancer-promoting substances detected by academicians still be raised in their own homes? This is probably what all flower lovers are eager to know.
The answer is, of course, yes. These plants, if you don’t eat them and maintain them normally at home, will not cause harm to the human body.
If these chemical cancer-promoting substances in plants are taken out and identified, they are just secondary metabolites of plants, and they are a large number of chemical synthetic products with complex structures that are not directly involved in plant growth and development. Plants use these compounds to improve the body’s ability to resist the invasion of the external environment, such as driving away hateful pests, transmitting useful information between plants, dealing with diseases and various unfavorable factors in the surrounding environment, and attracting "matchmakers" or "bodyguards" who help themselves pollinate …
Human beings are no strangers to the secondary metabolic "products" of plants, such as rubber, spices, essential oils and so on. The content of these secondary products in plants is not high. Most of the time, they stay quietly in plants and are released only when plants are in danger or their limbs are damaged. Only when these products enter the intruder’s body will they have the effect of poisoning or driving away; For flower growers, only when they enter the human body can they induce cancer.
Emphasize that it only induces cancer and promotes cancer, but it is not carcinogenic.
Some people may ask, I usually don’t eat potted flowers or move potted flowers, so will the secondary metabolites in these potted flowers float in the room in the form of gas, thus promoting cancer?
"It’s all hooliganism to talk about toxicity regardless of dosage". Generally speaking, the secondary substances in plant defense system have large molecular weight and poor volatility. Unlike esters and alkanes which are easy to volatilize in plants, they are mostly water-soluble secondary substances, and almost lose their volatilization ability in plants with high water content. The dose that can be volatilized into indoor air is very small, and they pose a cancer threat to people, even less than smoking a cigarette and breathing automobile exhaust.
In the book "Volatile Gases from Plants and Human Health and Safety", the volatile components of Rosa davurica, one of the "52 Carcinogenic Plants", were detected. The results showed that no cancer-promoting components were detected in its volatile components. Therefore, flower friends only need to know the properties of these plants and the characteristics of toxins in their bodies, and they can coexist peacefully with these plants without any burden without touching or eating them.
illustrate
Three so-called "carcinogenic plants"
As long as you don’t eat, you can rest assured.
Let’s find out three so-called "cancer-causing plants" that are common indoors in northern China for the time being, and here we will break them down one by one.
dripping guanyin
Drip Guanyin is very suitable for keeping indoors. Staggered leaves, shaped like cattail fans, protrude from the base of brown leaves wrapped in layers, giving off a shiny luster. Drip Guanyin is resistant to shade, and its huge leaf surface can absorb dust and toxic gases in the air. Watered enough water the night before, and got up the next day to observe the leaves. There must be glittering and translucent "water drops" hanging on the tip of the leaves. That is, use toilet paper to absorb the water droplets on the tip of the leaf, and in a short time, a "pearl" will be hung on this part.
This is because the dripping Guanyin, which originated from the bottom of the tropical rain forest, can "sweat" like a human being. When it feels hot and humid, and there is too much water in its body, it will excrete the water together with the toxin alkali secreted by pests through its own catheter, and condense it into "water droplets" at the tip of the leaf. This water drop is actually the secret weapon of dripping Guanyin. Small insects that come here for food will be doomed if they drink this honey dew as dew or accidentally touch it. Drinking "honey dew" will make small animals’ mouths red and swollen or suffocate because of heart paralysis; Once the honey dew touches the skin, the skin immediately itches and swells; If the eyes touch the "water drops", it will cause severe conjunctivitis and even blindness … People accidentally touch it, and it is the same symptom. It is also reported that some people saw that the massive stem of Drip Guanyin was very white, a bit like a potato and watery, so they couldn’t help licking it and wanted to taste the juice inside. I didn’t expect this lick to bring disaster-swollen lips, sore throat and numb tongue.
In fact, in plants, it is very common that the roots and leaves of plants contain toxins. The dripping Guanyin belongs to Araceae, and most of the plants in this family are poisonous, such as tortoise-back bamboo, evergreen and green radish.
crown of thorns
Red flowers, rising slowly from the hard and pointed cone thorns, are delicate, charming and graceful. During the Spring Festival, the blooming Rosa davurica will add a lot of spring scenery to the living room, which is also the reason why northerners love Rosa davurica. It is not afraid of drought, waterlogging, shade and sun, and it is very easy to feed.
Its vitality is super strong: if you don’t water it for half a year, you won’t get the sun, but you can live in a decent way, and the cute little buds with pink branches will bloom again. Even if you cut a branch and let it lie on the ground, you can grow roots, and green buds will burst out on the branch.
Rosa davurica, also known as begonia, is a member of Euphorbia in Euphorbiaceae. Euphorbia plants have a common feature: white milk will be secreted from the wound after the plant is injured. This kind of milk is a diterpenoid compound with special structure, which is toxic. This is also a "sharp weapon" for such plants to protect themselves and prevent pests and diseases from invading during the evolution process. The white milk secreted by the "wound" of Rosa davurica also stimulates human skin and mucous membrane. Eating it by mistake will cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness.
iris
Iris, which we often say, is not a plant, but a general term for iris plants. Its German Iris, Iris, Iris and Cynthia are all called Iris in principle.
Iris plants have bright and beautiful colors. The Latin name iris comes from Greek and is the name of Iriz, the goddess of the rainbow. It can be seen that the colors of iris plants are as colorful as rainbows. It is common to have two or three colors on a flower, which is the eternal darling of horticulture. According to the internet, the rhizome of iris can be used as emetic and cathartic, and can also be used as medicine to treat dizziness and toxic swelling. Eating its flowers, leaves and roots will cause gastrointestinal congestion and severe diarrhea.
As can be seen from the above examples, whether these plants cause cancer depends on whether you eat them or want to grow them in flowerpots for viewing. If it is only the latter, you can raise these plants with peace of mind. According to some data, 97% of the 368 kinds of flowers planted at home are beneficial to human health. Of course, we have to emphasize the four basic principles of peaceful coexistence with domestic plants-no matter what flowers are raised at home, don’t import them; Try to avoid zero-distance contact with plant secretions; Wash your hands after handling plants; Open the doors and windows to let the air circulate. Qi Yunzhi/Wen Ning Feng/Tu
Source: Huashang. com-Huashang Daily
