But the importance of the findings, say experts informed of the test results, is that they show the widespread contamination of our food supply and the environment. The pesticides were found in tiny amounts, in parts per billion, and pose no imminent health danger. DDT accumulates in our bodies and is carried in breast tissue, so ingesting contaminated tea is certainly undesirable. But the experts say that the benefits of drinking green tea probably outweigh the risks. DDT is still being manufactured in China and India and used in more than two dozen Third World countries in Africa and Asia.
China is the source of most of the green tea imported into the United States.
Finding DDT in tea imported from China would not surprise Janice Jensen, a senior environmental chemist in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs. This proposed international treaty is the focus of intensive efforts by the United Nations and environmental organizations, and it is still being negotiated. But several developing countries are balking at a DDT ban because until effective and affordable alternatives are available it is their best weapon against mosquitoes that transmit malaria, one of the world's top public health problems. Although environmentalists urge the use of safer alternatives, DDT is cheap and readily available. The affected countries simply cannot afford other control methods, and the United States has not made combating malaria a top spending priority.