..:: m e t r u m ::.. (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} metrum) wrote,@ 2006-06-13 11:49:00 |
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mmmm DDT
DDT in Tea
In These Times purchased 10 boxes of different brands of green tea at a suburban New York supermarket and health food store, and had them analyzed by Toxicology International of Fairfax, Virginia. Analysis of the tea samples showed that two of the 10 brands were contaminated with DDT, in violation of Environmental Protection Agency rules. The one with the highest levels was produced by the Yogi Tea Company, and included the herbs echinacea and kombucha. However, a new sample of Alvita Chinese Green Tea, the brand Nemiroff had been drinking, showed no traces of DDT.
In addition, five of the tea samples contained chlorpyrifos, also known as Dursban, which the EPA banned from consumer products last June because of its health risk, particularly to children. Chlorpyrifos is an organochlorine, putting it in the same chemical family as DDT. Under its recent action, the EPA reduced the allowable residues of chlorpyrifos in many fruits and vegetables. But tea is not supposed to contain any of the pesticide, making any amount of it an illegal adulteration.
Pesticide residues in black tea
DETERMINATION OF SOME ORGANOCHLORINE COMPOUNDS IN HERBAL COLOURING AGENT HENNA (LAWSONIA INERMIS) AND IN TEA (THEA SINENSIS)
Henna (Lawsonia inermis) has been used for centuries as a herbal hair and skin dye, but very little is known about its additives and contaminants that could adversely affect human health. An analytical method was developed to determine organochlorine compounds in henna, as they are still widely used in the areas where henna is grown. Samples were sonicated with n-hexane, extracts cleansed on Florisil sorbent and analysed using gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The overall recoveries were 17-33 % with the extraction RSD 5-21 %, while the levels of lindane (γ-HCH), p,p’-DDT, and p,p’-DDE in henna samples were 7-157 µg kg. The same procedure was successfully applied to analyse black tea samples for the same compounds, and which showed lower contamination.
DDT in Tea
In These Times purchased 10 boxes of different brands of green tea at a suburban New York supermarket and health food store, and had them analyzed by Toxicology International of Fairfax, Virginia. Analysis of the tea samples showed that two of the 10 brands were contaminated with DDT, in violation of Environmental Protection Agency rules. The one with the highest levels was produced by the Yogi Tea Company, and included the herbs echinacea and kombucha. However, a new sample of Alvita Chinese Green Tea, the brand Nemiroff had been drinking, showed no traces of DDT.
In addition, five of the tea samples contained chlorpyrifos, also known as Dursban, which the EPA banned from consumer products last June because of its health risk, particularly to children. Chlorpyrifos is an organochlorine, putting it in the same chemical family as DDT. Under its recent action, the EPA reduced the allowable residues of chlorpyrifos in many fruits and vegetables. But tea is not supposed to contain any of the pesticide, making any amount of it an illegal adulteration.
Pesticide residues in black tea
DETERMINATION OF SOME ORGANOCHLORINE COMPOUNDS IN HERBAL COLOURING AGENT HENNA (LAWSONIA INERMIS) AND IN TEA (THEA SINENSIS)
Henna (Lawsonia inermis) has been used for centuries as a herbal hair and skin dye, but very little is known about its additives and contaminants that could adversely affect human health. An analytical method was developed to determine organochlorine compounds in henna, as they are still widely used in the areas where henna is grown. Samples were sonicated with n-hexane, extracts cleansed on Florisil sorbent and analysed using gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The overall recoveries were 17-33 % with the extraction RSD 5-21 %, while the levels of lindane (γ-HCH), p,p’-DDT, and p,p’-DDE in henna samples were 7-157 µg kg. The same procedure was successfully applied to analyse black tea samples for the same compounds, and which showed lower contamination.
