Greenpeace India: Tea Leaves Show DDT Pesticide Residue

Tea is a $2 billion industry in India, which is the fourth-largest producer in the world of the sought-after beverage. The rich, fragrant chai is also unquestionably a domestic market-driver, since more than 80 percent of the product grown in India is sold at home. So when Greenpeace recently released a report stating that tested samples of India’s most prolific brands had traces of pesticides – including the banned substance DDT – well, you can imagine it wasn’t an easy swallow.

The India Tea Board immediately released a statement that all samples met India’s stipulated limits of pesticides and were within safety parameters. With equally rapid speed, Crop Care Federation, which represents the country's agricultural-chemical industry, demanded a retraction -- asserting that Greenpeace had made up the numbers. Within days, Crop Care launched a suit against Greenpeace, stating that the environmental organization had refused to share data with outside sources.

“Greenpeace’s effort to keep essential data away from Indian experts is a clear indication that the report is not just unscientific and fabricated but also done with malicious intent to harm Indian economy at the behest of its foreign donors,” said Crop Care Chair Rajjul Shroff.

This statement piqued our interest. Why would Greenpeace do the extensive research it boasted, and yet refuse to share data with outside sources?

The fact is, it did share the data, said Neha Saigal, senior campaigner for Greenpeace India’s sustainability campaign.

“Currently we are in conversations with all tea companies and they have been positively engaging with us.” According to Saigal, in addition to publishing the stats it found, Greenpeace shared the information with each company in an effort to open dialogue about other ways to manage crops and reduce pesticide use in general.

“We have had commitments from Unilever and Girnar who [have] taken the first step in supporting and investing in pilots to create a roadmap to eliminate pesticides.” Saigal said the NGO has also engaged Tata Global Beverages, which hasn’t yet committed to removing all pesticides from its crop management plan. Greenpeace is attempting to reach out to companies on a one-on-one basis, and the approach seems to be working, Saigal said.

With China, Kenya and Sri Lanka gaining prominence in the tea market, tea producers in India have been under pressure to increase production and regain its once-envied No. 1 spot in the global picture. This has increased the focus on pesticides and also prompted a closer look at safe pesticide management by the Tea Board. Meanwhile, Greenpeace has been sounding a cautionary note -- a measure not always appreciated by the agrochem industry.

“Greenpeace India has been campaigning to move the current paradigm of agriculture away from an industrial and chemical intensive model towards ecological farming practices," said Saigal, who noted that tea isn’t the only industry that is under pressure to expand its size of the market. “The main elements to the current agricultural model include chemical fertilisers, [genetically-modified] seeds and chemical pesticides. We currently have campaigns to move government policy away from chemical fertilisers and the environmental release of GMOs.”

She says the NGO’s reticence to share its data with agrochem experts isn’t a reflection of secretive interests, but rather a question of appropriateness when it comes to the data that belongs to tea producers.

"[This] is for the tea companies to decide whether they want to share their data with a third party,” Saigal said. “The Crop Care Federation of India has no relation to the tea companies. Logically there is no reason for CCFI to send legal notices to Greenpeace as we are in dialogue with the stakeholders in the tea Industry and they are willing to work with us." She said she suspects that Crop Care is concerned about its business interests and Greenpeace’s increasing success to guide crop producers – many of which are small farms – toward sustainable management practices that don’t require the use of pesticides.

In August, the Tea Board decided to put a hold  on its plans to implement a plant protection code that would spell out the way that pesticides could be used on crops. In a statement explaining why it had put a halt on implementing the code on Sept. 1, the board stated that while larger companies were cognizant of proper pesticide use, many of India’s smaller estates needed more guidance. It did not say whether this was a reflection of the Greenpeace study, in which researchers found DDT in more than half of the samples tested.

Saigal said the point of the study, which is so far the largest of its kind in India, was to encourage better regulation of tea cultivation and pesticide use.

“[The] regulatory system that regulates pesticides in India is in shambles," she said.

The Tea Board’s deferment of the plant protection code is evidence that it may be listening to concerns -- a choice that has received a good response from the public, Greenpeace said. Still, the nonprofit’s challenges aren’t over. A recently leaked Intelligence Bureau document implied that the advocacy organization was “a threat to national security” because it “negatively [impacts] economic development." It was not the only NGO to be named in the report

Saigal called the statement “suspicious,” but said it hasn’t had much impact on the NGO's dialogue with the tea industry. “[Tea] companies as well as the Tea Board continue to engage with us.”

“This study is meant to be a wake up call for the tea industry to move towards holistic ecological approaches. In our report we have found some unapproved pesticides clearly suggesting that the current regulatory system is failing to regulate pesticides. While the Industry has taken some initiatives it is only a piecemeal approach which is not the right solution,” Saigal said.

The Tea Board’s plant protection code is now slated to take effect Jan. 1, 2015, leaving plenty of time for updates on crop management education in the tea industry. It will be interesting to see if it also yields a reduction in pesticide use, as India continues to upgrade its global standing in this increasingly profitable market.

Image credit: Greenpeace India