pesticides/testing

[Guest guest]

this is what I found...but it doesn't indicate the type of testing...

 

however... I have had 'conventionally grown' us peppermint and certified

organic british peppermint gc'd... and neither has indicated the presence

of pesticides... altho I know they were in use on the us batch... so I am

not sure.

 

now it is, of course, possible the dr. pappas has done whatever tests would

reveal the presence of pesticides.

 

re the color and aromatic quality...that is a matter of personal

taste... I suspect every vendor here TRIES to supply the most aromatically

pleasing speciman of whatever oil is under discussion... it's also, of

course, why the 'to good to be true' oils exist...

 

>Schilcher and Habenicht did an investigation of 110 essential oil

>samples for chlorine pesticides. They say, that the paucity of reports

>on pesticide residues in published scientific literature is due

>exclusively to the fact that detection is difficult because the

>physical and chemical characteristics are very similar to those of

>essential oils.

>They report a detailled preparative and analytical procedure including

>complete column and temerature programs.

 

 

> (A new method for the

>determination of organochlorine pesticides in essential oils with

>results of analysis of 110 essential oil samples and of 10 medicinal

>products, Prof. H. Schilcher and Dr. Malte Habenicht. In: Essential

>Oils: Basic and Applied Research, Proceedings of the 27th Intern.

>S+AP0-mposium on Essential Oils, Allured 1997).

>

>For the record of the list, and to add again emphasis on the use of

>preferably organic oils, here come their findings:

>Organochlorine pesticides (OP's) were unequivocally found in 72

>samples, i.e. around two thirds of all the samples analysed.

>In 64 of these the levels were considerably greater than those

>permitted by the German residue limit ordinance (RHmV 1994)

>In 62 samples more than 1 OP was found, alpha- hexachlorocyclohexane,

>lindane, hexachlorobenzene, alpha-endosulfan, and p,p ' DDE being the

>most common.

>Especially noteworthy is the presence of technical

>hexachlorocyclohexane in 66 oils, the permitted limit being exceeded

>in 56 cases, while one sample contained some 50 times the limit

>permitted for this substance...

>Highly significant also the finding of DDT contamination found in 21

>samples.

>Both DDT and technical HCH are long since prohibited products in many

>countries.

>There was a tendency to higher concentration of OP's in oils from

>developing countries and Eastern Europe.

>

>All this is interesting in relation to the fact that OP's are regarded

>cancerous and especially linked to breast cancer. In Israel, breast

>cancer rate has fallen by 8+ACU- since these pesticides have been

>prohibited many years ago..