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News Note:
Pesticides in Darjeeling Tea
India's famous Darjeeling
tea may be laced with pesticide residues. The high-priced tea is
produced using large amounts of pesticides, creating health hazards
for workers and consumers, while threatening tea exports.
Darjeeling's tea
gardens employ 50,000 workers, who spray pesticides with no
protective clothing and drink water flowing from hills
sprayed with pesticides. While no studies have been
conducted, Darjeeling residents suspect a link between
pesticide exposure and ailments prevalent in the
area.
Gastrointestinal
diseases, pulmonary disorders and suicides are common among
tea workers. Many physical deformities have been observed
among children in the tea estates.
One of the most
commonly used pesticides is monocrotophos, listed by the
World Health Organization as Class Ib, highly hazardous.
Monocrotophos, an organophosphate used to kill insects and
mites, is a nerve toxin that can cause weakness, blurred
vision, profuse perspiration, confusion, vomiting and
pain.
In 1992-93, Germany refused to
import a shipment of Darjeeling tea contaminated with tetradifon, used
against spider mite larvae. A one-kilogram sample from the shipment contained
240 micrograms of tetradifon, 24 times above the maximum residue limit.
Despite threats to
workers and to the growers' ability to export, most growers
will not reduce pesticide use because they are dependent on
the chemicals to maintain yields. A local organic grower
blamed his neighbors' pesticide dependence on their failure
to systematically replant tea bushes, some of which are over
100 years old. As a result, the plants' resistance to pests
and disease has declined. At the same time, increased
pesticide use has made pests immune to the chemicals.
Sources:
Down to
Earth, Center for
Science and Environment, India, Vol. 9, No. 11, October 31,
2000, http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full.asp?foldername=20001031&filename=spr&sid=5; PAN Pesticide Database, http://www.pesticideinfo.org.
Contact:
Thimmakka@Thimmakka.org for sources of organic
tea.
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