Why on a giant farm in China bred six billion cockroaches in a year

For the Russian people cockroaches — these parasites, which are operating at night in our kitchen, run up on corners, when you turn on the light, and hate the sight of sneakers and Newspapers. In China these guys are very different. They think cockroaches are good for health, and pharmaceutical companies have built a business that brings a lot of money.

In Xichang, in southwest China is the farm where one of the pharmaceutical companies grow cockroaches. A building the size of two football fields filled with rows of narrow shelves on which the containers with food and water. Conditions on the farm are ideal for cockroaches — it's warm and humid all year round, cockroaches can easily move in my home, and no one disturbed them. The building is virtually airtight, and the man to get there is extremely difficult. But for his entire, albeit short, life is not one of the residents of the farm never sees sunlight.

So why do pharmaceutical companies need so many cockroaches? The fact that adults go to the manufacturer of medicinal tinctures, used for medical purposes. Medication has the color of tea, taste a little sweet and smells faintly of fish. Claim that the potion helps in the treatment of gastroenteritis, stomach ulcers and lung diseases. According to the official reports, a farm in Xichang sells a tincture over 4 thousands of hospitals across the country.

Tarakan was an ancient ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. Still in some rural regions of the country babies are fed cockroaches with garlic to cure fever. In addition, some studies suggest the anti-aging effect of taking the bug potions.

The main drawback of tinctures and raw materials.

A huge problem some experts believe the accumulation of a tremendous amount of insects in one place. Professor Zhu Codon from the Chinese Academy of Sciences argues that if the billions of cockroaches trapped now in the same building, suddenly released, which can happen for a variety of reasons, ranging from human error and ending with the earthquake, it can turn into a real disaster. Cockroaches multiply rapidly in the right conditions, and given the warm climate of Xichang and sufficient rainfall, insects can cause enormous damage throughout the neighborhood Xichang.

There are also concerns that the development of the farm can lead to the evolution of insects and the birth of "supertrain" anomalous dimensions and with an incredible breeding rate. But Zhu Codon doubt in such a scenario of development of events. It is believed that cockroaches exist since the dinosaurs and can survive extreme conditions that led to the disappearance of other species.