Cancer-curing mushroom is Himalayan Viagra

BBC News, July 17, 2018; CC Liu, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

None here. Teenage climber sets sights on Himalayan PEAKS challenge (BBC News).

Bhutanese Buddhist monasteries are strange since someone discovered "Himalayan Viagra."

A mushroom aphrodisiac? It cures cancer or in any case treats it? Today the BBC News in America (Los Angeles version) did a story on "Himalayan Viagra" in Nepal. Talk about blue ba... It turns out this wasn't the first time the BBC covered the world's most expensive fungus, cordyceps, a zombie fungus spread by ants to caterpillars in a move reminiscent of toxoplasmosis, the cat-poop disease millions of American women are suffering from without knowing it, as a parasite zombifies their brains and makes them act out in dangerous ways (all so the parasite can complete its life cycle, moving between two opposing species of animals, mice to cats).

Doing this with WD-40 will save you thousands in [pharmacy bills but cost you in the ER]

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The perilous search for 'Himalayan Viagra'

(BBC News) More valuable than gold, yarsagumba (cordyceps) fungus is only found in the Himalayan mountains above 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). It is called "Himalayan Viagra" (Ophiocordyceps sinensis). Every spring poor peasant people come from miles around to search for the precious crop, which [in 2018] sold for more than $100 a gram (and now sells for US $280 a gram, with 1,000 grams being in a kilo or kg) across Asia and the U.S. Produced by: Aamir Peerzada. Shot/edited: Neha Sharma.

Skyrocketing cost

(Wiki edited by WQ) In 2013 the world's most expensive fungus (more valuable than European truffles) was 125,000–500,000 yuan per kilogram.

Because of its high value, inter-village conflicts over access to its grassland habitats has become a headache for the local governing bodies and in several cases people were killed. 

In November 2011, a court in Nepal convicted 19 villagers over the murder of a group of farmers during a fight over the prized aphrodisiac fungus. Seven farmers were killed in the remote northern District of Manang in June 2009 after going to forage for yarcha-gumba [32].

Are these mushrooms blue? Like my ba...

Its value gave it a role in the Nepalese Civil War, as the Nepalese Maoists and government forces fought for control of the lucrative export trade during the June–July harvest season [33].

Collecting yarcha gumba in Nepal had only been legalized in 2001, and now demand is highest in countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

By 2002, the insect "herb" was valued at R 105,000 rupees ($1,435) per kilogram, allowing the government to charge a royalty of R 20,000 ($280 tax per kilogram).

• Currently it can be found on amazon.com for $277.78 per ounce. It's not vegan. It's a dead insect full of fungus, killed by an ant and enervated by mycelium. But American entrepreneur Ron Teeguarden traveled to the Himalayas, found it, figured out a way to produce a VEGAN version of the mycelia, moved to Bhutan, married a Bhutanese Buddhist woman, went into business in America and Bhutan, and now has a fine line of tonic herbs under the brand name Dragon Herbs (DragonHerbs.com). It is much more reasonably priced, as it can be grown indoors in a tub without killing caterpillars or any other insect.