Post date: Apr 01, 2012 11:56:0 AM
CCTV BEIJING - There is no anti-cancer feature of the giant panda poo tea, according to Shi Jun, a botanist in China, refuting the rumors spread by the founder of "Panda Tea".
Recently, the panda poo tea became a hit at the tea market in China, and the price has been soaring since its debut, averaging 400,000 yuan or about 63,480 US dollars per kilo.
An Yanshi, a former calligraphy teacher, started growing the panda poo tea in the mountains of Ya'an city of southwest China's Sichuan Province in 2011. According to the founder, he has been collecting tons of excrement from the pandas to grow the tea bushes.
In An's opinion, bamboo leaves have the feature of fighting cancer. After the digestion of panda, the priceless panda poo tea has a stronger effect in anti-cancer functions.
However, in Shi's opinion, the alleged anti-cancer feature of the panda poo tea is just kind of self-promotion, with no substance.
"The cancer-fighting substance found in flora is taxol. But there is no report about bamboo leaves containing the substance. Even if the bamboo leaves contain the substance, it will not be absorbed by the tea bushes, the nutrition of tea is similar, more or less," said Shi Jun, the botanist.
Asked about the anti-cancer feature, An, the panda poo tea founder, just showed his welcome of scientific research over the issue.
"As I'm not a scientist, I have no ability to prove this. But I welcome those scientific agencies interested in this can do some sampling study on this," said An.
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