Greenpeace finds high pesticide levels in Indian tea

Greenpeace India in its latest report 'Trouble Brewing' has revealed the presence of pesticides in Indian tea. Many tea samples have tested positive for Monocrotophos, a highly hazardous organo-phospohorous pesticide.

According to the report, there has been a presence of pesticides “considered highly and moderately hazardous by the World Health Organisation” as well as other pesticides which have “not been approved for use in tea crops in India”.

The report further states that 34 pesticides were found, with 46 samples of branded tea – or 94 per cent – containing residues of at least one pesticide.

Around 59 per cent or 29 of the samples contained ‘cocktails’ of more than 10 different pesticides, including one sample which contained residues of 20 different pesticides.

A similar number of samples – 59 per cent or 29 of them – contained residues of at least one pesticide active ingredient above the maximum residue levels set by the EU (EU-MRL). Around 37 per cent or 18 of the tea samples exceeded these levels by more than 50 per cent.

Between June 2013 and May 2014, Greenpeace India tested a sample of 49 branded packaged teas from 8 of the top 11 companies that dominate the branded tea market in India. Tea from these companies are also exported to countries like Russia, the UK, the US, UAE and Iran.

Greenpeace in its press release has stated that the companies, whose samples were tested, include Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Tata Global Beverages, Wagh Bakri, Goodricke, Twinings, Golden Tips, Kho-Cha and Girnar.

“All the companies named in our report have been contacted and we have been interacting with them over the last several months. The copies of the test results were also shared,” Greenpeace said in a release.

According to Neha Saigal, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India, all stakeholders in the tea industry should come forward and take steps to safeguard the reputation of the tea industry.

COMMENT NOW