Testing Reveals Pesticides Found In Common Tea Brands

According to CBC News, testing of a number of popular brands of tea revealed that their pesticide traces are higher than the allowable amount in many cases.

CBC News tested dry tea leaves from Lipton, Twinings, King Cole, Red Rose, Tetley, Uncle Lee’s Legends of China, Signal and No Name, using a testing method employed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 

The testing revealed that more than half of the teas sampled had pesticide residue above the legally allowable limits in Canada.

According to The Hearty Soul, eight of the 10 teas tested contained multiple chemicals. Uncle Lee’s Legends of China Tea contained more than 20 different types of pesticides.

James O’Young, the vice president of Uncle Lee’s Legends of China, defended his product, saying that all tea contains pesticides.

“If you drink regular tea, I don’t care what brand it is, the fact of life, this agricultural product does have pesticides,” O’Young said.

However, there was one company in the study, Red Rose, whose product was tested and confirmed to contain no pesticides. 

“This is very worrisome from a number of perspectives,” said environmental lawyer David Boyd. “The presence of so many pesticides on a single product and so many products that exceed the maximum residue limits for pesticides, suggests that we’re seeing very poor agricultural practices in countries, which poses risk to the environment where these products are being grown; which pose risk to the farm workers who are growing these crops, and ultimately pose risk to the Canadians who are consuming these products.”

The CFIA declined the CBC’s request for an interview about the matter, but said that the pesticide is not a cause for alarm, even when the levels exceed the legal limit.

“Health Canada reviewed the information provided by Marketplace and for the pesticides bifenthrin, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, chlorfenapyr, pyridaben, acephate, dicofol and monocrotophos determined that consumption of tea containing the residues listed does not pose a health risk based on the level of residues reported, expected frequency of exposure and contribution to overall diet,” a spokesperson told CBC News in a written statement. “Moreover, a person would have to consume approximately 75 cups of tea per day over their entire lifetime to elicit an adverse health effect.”

Boyd argues that the government should be alarmed, however.

“I think that’s a complete abdication of CFIA’s responsibility to protect Canadian people,” Boyd said. “The reality is that there is emerging science about the impacts of pesticides at very low concentrations.”

Sources: CBC News (2), The Hearty Soul / Photo Credit: CBC News