The secret of the giant farm raised 6 billion cockroaches in China

The world's largest indoor cockroach farm employs 6 billion adult cockroaches a year using artificial intelligence to operate. According to the Chinese government, this is part of the process of producing "a medicine" that is being used by millions of patients.

Breeding cockroaches to prepare medicines

There are many facilities for cockroach farming in China for use in medicine or for processing protein sources in animal feed. But there are no facilities that grow large and modern cockroaches like indoor farms in Xichang City, Sichuan Province, southwest China.

The farm, run by Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Group in Chengdu, Sichuan, consists of a two-story multi-level building that provides the market with 6 billion adult cockroaches per year, according to the report. Sichuan provincial government earlier this year.

Giant ultra-modern indoor cockroach farm in China.

The report emphasized that the project of raising cockroaches in the province has achieved a lot of "scientific and technological breakthroughs" and is well deserved to be awarded a national science award.

At the time of reporting to the government, the farm had a turnover of $ 684 million in the past year through the production of a drug with a complete composition of . cockroaches.

After being grown with a standard weight and size, cockroaches are put into the machine and crushed to make medicine that according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) is significantly effective with stomach pain and other diseases. .

According to South China Morning Post's description, the drug has a tea-like color, a slightly sweet taste and a slightly fishy odor.

It is estimated that more than 40 million patients with respiratory, stomach and other diseases have been cured after taking the doctor's prescription medication.

Drugs from cockroaches are believed to also stimulate the redevelopment of damaged tissues such as skin and mucous membranes, membranes that stick on the surface of internal organs.

According to many studies, patients with severe burns or gastritis recover faster when treated with this drug. In addition, the rejuvenation effect of the drug has also been confirmed.

According to an official report, the farm distributed medicines to more than 4,000 hospitals throughout China.

In China, cockroaches have been a familiar ingredient in the country's traditional medicine for thousands of years. In some rural areas of southern China, children occasionally get cockroaches from their parents to treat fever due to infection or abdominal pain.

The Chinese government financed national studies on the medical value of cockroaches. After more than two decades of investigation and clinical trials, researchers have discovered or confirmed cockroaches with dozens of proteins against disease and biochemical compounds with great potential in medicine.

Patients do not know the drug is prepared from . cockroaches

Periplaneta americana is the Latin name of the American cockroach species - one of the world's largest cockroach species farmed in China.

According to an unnamed researcher from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences' Institute of Medicine Materials (CAMS), a major disadvantage to this drug is its composition that makes almost all of it People are "shy, scared".

"This is an important reason why this drug is not exported to other countries. Even in China, most patients may not know that this liquid drug is prepared from cockroaches ," the home said. Research revealed.

According to SCMP, although the drug was banned from being sold indiscriminately in a pharmacy, the reporter still managed to buy it at a pharmacy in Beijing without a doctor's prescription.

On the packaging and in the manual, there is only one component listed: Periplaneta americana, the Latin name of the American cockroach - one of the largest cockroach species in the world.

On the Internet, discussions about drugs are made from cockroaches , called Kangfuxin Ye, which are going on.

A user on Baidu Tieba, a large Chinese online community run by search engine company Baidu, said: 'I've typed the phrase Periplaneta americana into the search engine when taking drugs and looking at the pictures. The photo appeared, I vomited the medicine into the phone screen. '

Some patients who used to take medicine claimed to SCPM that they did not know the ingredients of the medication when they took it.

"I don't know the composition of this medicine, but in the end my illness was cured," said a patient who took medication to cure a back injury.

Talking about this issue with SCMP, Han Yijun, a representative of Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Group in Beijing, denies that the company intentionally hides the patient's ingredient when writing the cockroach name according to their scientific name .

"Our drugs have been used in many major hospitals for many years and are very popular," Han said, adding that patients know that the medicines they take are prepared from cockroaches.

The farm operates with artificial intelligence

Farming cockroaches achieved unexpected results thanks to artificial intelligence algorithm (AI).

According to the South China Morning Post newspaper, long cockroach shelves are neatly arranged with food and water containers attached.

In rooms with cockroaches, hot, humid, dark air all year round, cockroaches freely travel to find food and reproduce. From birth to being crushed as medicine, cockroaches in the farm had never seen the sun.

Closed farm as a prison, strictly limited visitors. Anyone who is allowed to visit the farm must wear protective clothing to avoid germs or contamination.

According to the report, cockroach farms achieved unexpected results, largely due to the application of an intelligent control and operation system supported by artificial intelligence algorithms (AI).

System to collect, analyze and control everything from humidity, temperature, amount of food, drinking water of cockroaches. The system also tracks genetic changes and the effect of this on the rate of increase of cockroaches.

In cockroach farms, the AI ​​system has the ability to self-study and self-adjust to improve the race of cockroaches. Dr. Zhang Wei, a former research assistant at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, who was involved in the development of the system to confirm the application of AI technology to cockroaches but refused to provide funds. details.

"There is no place like that in the world. The farm has used some unique solutions to solve unique problems , " Zhang said.

"There are very few people on this farm. On shelves, floors and ceilings, cockroaches" are everywhere , " Guangming Daily newspaper wrote.