Modern people are in touch with pesticides on a daily basis. These chemicals can be found in the food we purchase from the stores, in the air we breathe at home and even in the parks.
So, if you want to avoid the negative impact of these chemicals, you should consider taking certain actions like eating organic and natural foods and preparing the food you buy from grocery stores in a better way. However, even when you take all the measures you can imagine, these dangerous pesticides will still affect you.
Namely, a scientific research conducted a few weeks ago, has discovered high levels of pesticides in some of the most used tea brands today like Tetley, Twinings and Lipton.
This investigation was led by CVC News and it was focused on the tea bags of these manufacturers and their products:
- Twinings
- Tetley
- King Cole
- Lipton, including Pure Green tea and Yellow Label Black tea
- Red Rose
- No Name
- Uncle Lee’s Legends of China, including Green Tea and Jasmine Green Tea
- Signal
The people involved in this process used the help of a certified laboratory to thoroughly analyze the content of these tea bags and determine the exact quantity of pesticides found in dry tea leaves. The technique used during this process was exactly the same like the one used by the FIA (Food Inspection Agency).
What they found was shocking. More than 50% of the teas they’ve included in this research contained pesticide content way above the allowed level. In addition, 80% of the tested teas had different types of chemicals too and one of the teas has more than 20 types of pesticides.
But that’s not all. The pesticides discovered in these brands, including endosulfan and monocrotophos, were listed as pesticides that will soon be banned in many countries because the authorities have determined their negative effect on the health of workers who are using them and the environment too.
The truth is that the majority of teas had only small amounts of pesticides, but some of them had unacceptable level of these chemicals which is actually illegal.
Therefore, it is always a good idea to be careful even when you are buying popular teas. In order to help you preserve your health, we will highlight the tea brands packed with high amounts of chemicals:
- No Name – this brand with a catchy name has teas that have more than a dozen of different pesticides.
- Uncle Lee’s Legends of China – the green tea variety of this brand contains almost 20 kinds of pesticides. Of course, the worst one if endosulfan, a pesticide that will soon be banned in many countries around the globe because it leads to negative effects including nervous system disorders, fatalities and tremors.
- King Cole – this is another brand of teas rich in pesticides including monocrotophos. This pesticide has been associated with spontaneous defecation and irregular heartbeats.
Of course, the presented data and information was not shared without comments from these companies. James O’ Young, VP of Uncle Lee’s Legends of China for instance has denounced these claims is false. He said that in case you drink any of the teas produced by popular brands you will not consume pesticides with it.
However, he didn’t have an answer to the question why Red Rose was the brand that didn’t have teas with pesticides in it.
So, don’t forget to buy products from companies which have pesticide-free teas in their offer and stay away from tea brands that we have mentioned above, at least until they confirm that their products are free of chemicals.
Via Healthy Food House | Parsi Cuisine
