Serving Size: 4.92 MB Servings Per Container: 1 In Your Body On Your Body For Your Home For Your Family Seeking Medical Treatment How to Detoxify Your Body Guide to Symptoms A Healthy House Values, Vision & Mission Background & History Staff & Advisors News & Upcoming Events Join Our Mailing List Contact Us Recommended Resources Index of Terms Works Cited This product contains 100% natural ingredients. Easy Pay Pal Donations TNTP Grade A Brain-food More Special Features Back to Index of Terms The product Coffee & Tea is in the following categories: Food & Beverage Coffee & Tea CHEMICALS CONTAINED: Coffee and tea are typically grown in countries where pesticide regulations are more lenient than they are in the United States. This leads to a number of concerns including pesticide residues that might be ingested by the consumer. More important to consider are the pesticide exposures of farmworkers in the areas of production and the effects on local environments. Conventionally grown coffee is sometimes treated with organophosphate pesticides. The bean, when growing, is encased in a fruit that will absorb much of the applied pesticide, and roasting will remove much of the residue that reaches the bean. On the other hand, coffee is so heavily sprayed with pesticides that detectable residues have been measured at various times in recent history . Conventionally grown tea is a more likely health problem for the consumer, in addition to being a problem for the farmers and the environment, because the end product is sprayed directly as it grows. Pesticide residues in teas, including residues of organochlorine pesticides such as DDT that are now banned in the US, have sparked multiple controversies. Removing caffeine from coffee to make decaf can be done with one of several methods. One involves washing the beans in a solvent. Although benzene was once used for this purpose, solvents used today are ethyl acetate or methylene chloride. Other methods use more basic materials such as water (the Swiss water process), carbon dioxide, or oxygen . Also most bleached filters and tea bags add dioxins to the brewed drink. Dioxins are toxins that are inadvertently produced by the paper pulp bleaching process. HEALTH CONCERNS: There have been many studies done on the health of the farmers outside the US who grow our coffee. The effects of the pesticides on them are significant. Although organophosphates have had such effects on the reproductive system as fetal deaths, abnormal sperm, ovarian follicles, and eggs, birth defects, and DNA damage, this class of pesticide is most commonly known for its effects on the neurological system. Organophosphates are considered “cholinesterases.” This means that they “knock out” acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for breaking down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (AcE), so there isn’t too much at one time at the nerve junction (the site where chemicals cross from one nerve to the other, to make the receptor nerve fire). Without AcE, the acetylcholine builds up and the insects die of convulsions. Human symptoms of too much AcE include convulsions, nervousness, excessive salivation, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headache, weakness, tremors and noise sensitivity. DDT is the most infamous organochlorine pesticide because it was banned in the US in the late 60s after Rachel Carson’s ground-breaking book “Silent Spring” exposed the effects this chemical was having on wildlife. Organochlorine pesticides have been found to have effects on estrogen, testosterone, prolactin, and thyroid hormones, sperm counts, and fetal deaths. However, they perform their toxic function by disrupting the sodium-potassium pump of nerve cells. The result is an increase in the sensitivity of neurons to stimuli normally too small to elicit a response. As for the process to decaffeinate coffee…The toxicity of ethyl acetate is uncertain (EPA described it as “fairly nontoxic” in its last toxicity review), while methylene chloride, also known as dichloromethane, is a class B2 “probable” carcinogen and is toxic to the liver . The process of roasting coffee produces acrylamide, which is a carcinogen. TIPS & ALTERNATIVES: When purchasing coffee, you want to make sure that any or all of these phrases are on the label: “organic,” “shade grown,” and “fair trade.” Respectively this means that your coffee was grown without chemicals, without depleting any rainforests, and by farmers who make a living wage. Although tea companies should be testing for pesticide residues – and not to mention that any DDT in food products is not legally allowed in the US – contamination can clearly happen anyway. Therefore it is receommended to only buy organic teas. Use unbleached filters and tea bags to reduce dioxin exposures. Note that acrylamide levels are highest in light to medium roast coffees; very light or darker roasts have less acrylamide. If you’re going to drink decaffeinated coffee, research the company to find out what method they use to remove the caffeine from the bean. If they use ethyl acetate or methylene chloride (or if you can’t find out that information) you might just want to switch back to high test or to an organic tea with less caffeine than coffee…like green tea, which also is high in antioxidants. Back to Index of Terms