For the uncles born in the 1970s, their childhood memories are very vague, and they have no time to recall. They are more troubled by the insignificant things in life in front of them, running around for a few taels of silver. However, sometimes when I look at the innocent smiles of children, I feel envious, and I occasionally think of the good times of my childhood. I believe that among the memories of many people born in the 1970s, the sweetest memory of childhood is the Pagoda Candy, but there is also a question: Why did the "Bagota Candy" that became popular all over the country in the 1970s suddenly disappear later?
In the 1980s, because materials were still relatively scarce at that time, in my childhood memory, there were no snacks to eat. It was good to have a full meal. During the holidays, eating dumplings is a great delicacy. When I was a kid, the only snacks were candies. White Rabbit Milk Candy I believe many students born in the 1970s are very familiar with it. It was a rare thing at that time, and ordinary people could rarely eat it. Anyone who had one must be the most handsome boy in the crowd.
Compared with White Rabbit toffee, which is more precious, Pagoda candy is very common. It became popular all over the country in the 1980s and is the sweetest childhood memory for many of us. Pagoda candy can be said to be a special kind of "candy". Our parents are willing to spend money to buy it for us, and our local health center even distributes it for free. These pagoda candies are not only beautiful in shape, but also in beautiful colors, including red, white, and yellow. More importantly, they are so sweet when you eat them, it is sweet to the bottom of your heart. I believe that many friends of the same age have sweet memories that started with Pagoda Candies, and they still remember them today!
In fact, Pagoda is not a candy, but a roundworm repellent. In the late 1970s, anti-parasitic drugs began to be promoted across the country. In order to make it easier for children to accept, a certain proportion of sugar and pigments were added to the drug. After being processed in a pharmaceutical factory, it came in a variety of colors and turned into an edged cone that looked like a pagoda shape, hence the name "pagoda sugar."
Speaking of the mystery of the disappearance of Pagoda Candy, we must start with the origin of Pagoda Candy. After the founding of new China, due to poor sanitary conditions and poor personal hygiene, ascariasis became prevalent throughout the country, seriously endangering the health of children. In order to solve this problem, our country introduced the Asteraceae plant Artemisia roundworm from the former Soviet Union. The drug that can repel roundworms can be extracted from this plant. In 1952, my country introduced Artemisia roundworm seeds from the former Soviet Union for trial planting. At that time, there were only 20 grams of seeds, which were divided into four parts and escorted under the protection of public security personnel to four state-owned farms in Hohhot, Datong , Xi'an, Weifang , which had trial planting tasks. In the end, only the Weifang farm's trial planting of Artemisia was declared a success.
It is precisely because of the successful trial planting at Weifang Farm that the problem of raw materials for pagoda sugar has been solved to a certain extent, and it no longer relies entirely on imported raw materials. Of course, there are many twists and turns in the story. It was not until the late 1970s that the production of roundworms was greatly improved, and the production of pagoda sugar was increased. In 1979, the Ministry of Health and the State Administration of Medicine promoted the use of "Pagoda Sugar" anthelmintic medicine by all people, and thus began a vigorous pest control campaign. Of course, it is also the beginning of sweet memories for many of us.
By 1982, relevant departments eliminated 127 kinds of drugs and dosage forms, including "Baotatang" anthelmintic drug, and then the cultivation and production of Ascaris were suspended. In order to prevent the extinction of the raw material Artemisia, some far-sighted old comrades tearfully put some Artemisia seeds into large bottles and placed them in deep wells for storage. However, due to the backward storage method, they were not able to be preserved in the end.
Reducing the dosage form of a drug does not mean eliminating the raw materials for extracting the drug. This is a very simple truth. However, tragedies that should not have happened in the history of our country's pharmaceutical still happened before our eyes. In 1985, people remembered Artemisia astragalus, the raw material for extracting Pagoda sugar, and requested to purchase Artemisia versicolor. However, it was too late. Artemisia was already extinct in the country. In the end, people had no choice but to sigh.
With the extinction of Artemisia ascaris in our country, Pagoda Sugar has also disappeared and has become a memory of an era. Of course, later there were new antiscaricides to replace pagoda sugar, but they just didn’t have the same taste as before.
