10 herbal teas found to contain pesticides

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Ten green herbal tea brands popular in Sweden were found to contain pesticides and other hazardous chemicals, a consumer testing laboratory said Thursday.

The only brand whose trace levels exceeded Swedish Food Administration limits was made by Kung Markatta of Orebro, Sweden, the consumer testing organization Testfakta said.

"We have decided to halt all sales of the tea from our stocks," Kung Markatta's Peter Engberg told Sweden's Ostgota Correspondenten newspaper.

The organic branding organization Krav immediately withdrew its classification of the tea.

"We consider this matter to be very serious as the Krav label stands for production without the use of pesticides," Kristin Cooper at Krav told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Testfakta said it tested nine other brands and found traces of Cypermethrin, a neurotoxin found in household ant and cockroach killers; the insecticide Ethion; and Deltamethrin, which has been shown to be highly toxic to aquatic life.

The only brand found free from pesticides was Britain's Clipper, with tea grown in India and China, The Local newspaper of Stockholm, Sweden, reported.