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German organic tea experts draw attention to pesticides in wild herbs
With the "Political Lime Blossom Campaign", German tea and herb specialist Heuschrecke has drawn attention to the contamination of herbs from wild collection. A monitoring of the current lime blossom harvest also gives an overview of the contamination of herbal tea drugs from wild collection.
From the beginning of May, the accredited laboratory Quanta in Zagreb carried out a monitoring of the current lime blossom harvest and also examined the level of contamination of other herbal tea drugs collected in the wild. From the results, Heuschrecke has compiled a "hit list" of glyphosate-containing wild herbs and published them on its website:
Chickweed herb: 35,216 mg/kgFrom the beginning of May, the accredited laboratory Quanta in Zagreb carried out a monitoring of the current lime blossom harvest and also examined the level of contamination of other herbal tea drugs collected in the wild. From the results, Heuschrecke has compiled a "hit list" of glyphosate-containing wild herbs and published them on its website:
Earth smoke herb: 24,118 mg/kg
Shepherd's purse cabbage: 9,01 mg/kg
Sorrel root: 10,625 mg/kg
Willow herb: 2,033 mg/kg
Horsetail cabbage: 3,174 mg/kg
Contamination far above the limit value
The legal limit for glyphosate in teas is 2mg/kg, several of the samples tested were significantly higher. The analyses show that even at distances of more than one kilometre from sprayed fields high loads still occur. The laboratory assumes that glyphosate not only degrades very slowly, but accumulates. Furthermore, it is so water-soluble that it is even dissolved by high humidity and spreads quite far away from the conventional farmland that causes it to rain down later on. With this information, Heuschrecke wants to draw the attention of colleagues in the industry and politicians to this intolerable situation.
Website resource: http://organic-market.info/news-in-brief-and-reports-article/german-organic-tea-experts-draw-attention-to-pesticides-in-wild-herbs.html
Tags: Germany , organic tea , pesticides
