I can still remember Pratima Barua’s song on tea garden workers who left their homes in Odisha and Bihar to pluck tea leaves in the gardens of Assam, to give the world the famous Assam tea.

I also recall the breathtaking, neatly pruned rows of tea bushes, green as emerald, as we drove past the districts of Assam on our various family holidays, growing up in the Goalpara district of Assam. These memories are very closely linked to the places and people associated with tea.

Poison in your tea up Tea is not just a drink I wake up to every morning — I share a very emotional relationship with this beverage. So, to come across a Greenpeace report suggesting that toxic pesticide residues are found in Indian tea was not only shocking but also disappointing.

A review of this study, which tested samples of tea brands likely to be found in almost every household, was even more disturbing. For the first time, I realised my cup of tea could have more than one kind of pesticide and sometimes even a cocktail of around 20 pesticides. This is deeply worrying as I am not sure science has been able to evaluate what the cocktail effect of these pesticides is on the human body.

Almost immediately I thought of all those tea workers and their children who reside in these tea gardens. They are exposed directly to variety of pesticides and most of them have no knowledge of the impact this could have on their health and minds. I also came across a study published in the Journal of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology in 2013 that suggested that a variety of pesticides used in agriculture has resulted in the declining health of farmers in the Barack Valley of Assam.

While there is the issue of impact on people’s health, there have been many cases of observed negative impact of pesticides on the environment and biodiversity. This is a huge risk for Assam, which is host to many rare and endangered creatures. The rampant use of pesticides has also caused pest resistance and harmful impact on beneficial organisms.

But despite the evidence on the harmful impacts of pesticides, there is continued — if not increased — usage of these chemicals. As the Greenpeace report reveals, there are also unapproved chemical pesticides that are used in tea cultivation such as monocrotophos.

All of this calls for our policymakers and the stakeholders of the tea sector to stop and think of holistic solutions not only from the point of view of safety for tea drinkers but also the sustainability of the tea sector itself.

The answer lies in gradually phasing out pesticides and opting for ecological practices that are based on approaches of rejuvenating the ecosystem.

A huge risk Tea is a very important economic crop for India, specially for Assam, which produces half the country’s tea. It is the single largest industrial sector in Assam contributing a big share to the State’s income.

The tea sector has also been a major source of employment and increase in income for rural youth in the State especially with the advent of the concept of growing tea in small land holdings. This makes it vital that Assam ensures the viability of the tea sector economically and ecologically. Having farmed myself, I know that farming without pesticides is possible by applying traditional knowledge scientifically.

This solution cannot take place overnight but is possible gradually and is definitely the future of tea in this country. This also requires the Tea Board of India to give whatever support is required for small tea growers to move away from the pesticide menace.

The writer is an actor and hails from Assam

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