Glyphosate in tea and coffee
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Article on ZDF.de
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This week the German broadcaster ZDF published the results of a
test of many different brands of black tea. In my opinion
this is a trustworthy source.

I was shocked to read that the tea of every brand was tainted
by pesticides, most important Glyphosate, but also other
kinds. The article spoke of a "cocktail of poisons" that were
found in the tea.

We know that Glyphosate kills the bees and birds, and
results in Parkinson’s disease in humans.

Biological tea
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One of the key takeaway of the article is, that when it comes
to pesticides, it doesn't matter much if you choose biological
or non-biological tea.

Both kinds carry the deadly chemicals.

Shocking?
---------
I do like a good cup of Sencha green tea, in fact I was
enjoying a nice cup while reading this article.
My first reaction was being shocked. Soon I realized that
this was a stupid reaction.

Tea is grown in mono cultures, there are a limited number of
places in the world where tea can be farmed. The growth of tea
is under pressure by the climate crisis. The farmers are poor
and the chemical companies do everything possible to push
their products.

It must have been no surprise that during the production
of tea the pesticides are being used on a large scale.

Coffee
------
The circumstances of the coffee production are not different
from tea. Here too we see mono cultures, the impact of the
climate crisis, poor farmers and pushing chemical companies.
And the world wide consumption of coffee is staggering high.

A quick search on the internet revealed that pesticides
are indeed found in coffee.

Daily habit
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Tea and coffee is most used on a daily basis, often several
cups per day. Day by day, the poison builds up in your body.

This makes the poisoning of our favorite beverage so bad.

And now?
--------
What does this all mean? Should we skip the tea and coffee?

From the test we know that choosing a biological brand does
not guarantee the absence of these poisons.

We people are very bad in estimating risks, when it comes to
our own personal situation. When soldiers are marched to the
front, every soldier is feeling sorry for the guy next to him,
because he is the one that will take the bullet.

Perhaps the best thing is to think about what we would advise
other people to do. Regarding this information on the
chemicals in our tea and coffee, I would advise other people
to limit their intake.

This morning I skipped my tea and just drank a glass of water.
As far as we know, the tap water in Europe is of good quality
and OK to drink. And if I would have made tea, it would have
been with the same water.

I don't think I will stop using tea and coffee altogether, but
I intend to keep it to two cups of coffee and a cup of tea per
day. But who knows if this is already too much?

Resources
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* https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/panorama/tee-pestizide-glyphosat-100.html
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_coffee
* https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1004570/full
* https://www.thenewlede.org/2022/08/new-study-says-glyphosate-may-be-linked-to-neurodegenerative-diseases/
* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/02/paraquat-parkinsons-disease-research-syngenta-weedkiller


Last edited: $Date: 2023/10/20 08:44:21 $