Germany buys around five million kg of
Darjeeling tea, and is particularly concerned about residues of tetradifon and
ethion. As moral and health conscious consumers, Germans are quite likely
to change their tea-drinking habits. The Indian Tea Board and Commerce Ministry
are urgently developing mechanisms to monitor and lower the residue levels.
Planters are worried that a reduction in pesticide use would lead to a drop in
yields. This must be set this against the possible loss of markets if residues
remain unsatisfactory, and while Germany only consumes 4% of Indian tea exports,
a decision to reject Indian tea could influence other importers.
Indian tea bodies argue that there is
insufficient reliable data on the percentage of pesticide residues in tea which
could be considered hazardous, and that residues in dry tea do not get
transferred into the liquor consumed. Ethion is an organophosphate
classified by WHO as ‘moderately hazardous’; tetradifon is classified
as unlikely to present acute hazard under normal conditions of use, however
scientific information on this active ingredient is limited, and the WHO asks
for more information on the effects on reproduction and carcinogenicity.
The root of contention appears to be the maximum residue limits (MRLs) set in
Germany, which allow 0.01 mg/kg of tetradifon and 2.0 mg/kg of ethion.
This compares with FAO/WHO MRL of 7 mg/kg for ethion: it has not set one for
tetradifon.
While the response of the Indian tea
growers is defensive, the controversy has focused attention on methods of
minimising use of pesticides in tea. The Indian Tea Association has proposed a
more selective use of chemicals for specific pests, and is also suggesting using
sulphur to replace a number of hazardous pesticides. Pesticides in
widespread use on tea in India appear to be chlorpyriphos, ethion, dicofol,
kelthane, paraquat, dalapon. Others suggest using more ecologically
friendly products such as neem.
An ILO report in the mid-1980s(2) noted that workers spray
insecticides and herbicides with no protective clothing, and their health
appeared affected through eye defects, reduction in vitality and skin diseases:
it further indicated that workers may later develop acute diarrhoea, chemical
pneumonia, blood-vomiting and respiratory trouble due to constant exposure. No
protective equipment was available to workers. Training was minimal or non-existant.
It also noted that in the Darjeeling hill area, tractors could not reach most
parts of the tea estates, and water and chemicals were carried by hand to the
site of spraying. A bill was presented in 1992 to improve labour conditions on
the plantations, but observers suggested that little has changed(3). (BD)