Extremely high levels of pesticides have been found in traditional Chinese herbs sold in Hong Kong and on the mainland, according to a green group.
Greenpeace tested seven Chinese herbs sold in Hong Kong's Beijing Tongrentang stores and 56 herbs from other large retailers in eight mainland cities over the past year. Pesticide residue was found in 74 per cent of the samples. Of these 48 samples - five from Hong Kong - half contained more than 10 different pesticides. Some of the pesticides have been banned for more than a decade.
"These results are crazy," said Kate Lin Pui-yi, a campaigner with the group, which released its report yesterday. "We humans so far have not fully grasped the harmful effects of pesticides, but there is evidence that a mixture of pesticides is much more harmful [than a single chemical]."
Pesticides have caused deaths on the mainland, and studies show some accumulate in the body over time, leading to hormone and reproductive problems and learning difficulties.
The worst contaminated sample was san qi flower bought from a branch of Tongrentang in Beijing, which had 39 types of pesticide. Residue levels in some samples were hundreds of times above the European Union's food safety limits, the Greenpeace report said. Hong Kong has restrictions on nine kinds of pesticide residue, but not on any of the ones found in the five Hong Kong samples. Lin said the city's law is outdated as the nine pesticides it names are no longer used.
Greenpeace is urging the government to update the law to cover more pesticides and Chinese herbs, and to step up sampling at the border and in markets. It called on sellers of Chinese herbs to improve quality control on the herbs they purchase.