A Compromised Health Product

"We were quite surprised. If you drink three or four cups a day, which a lot of people do, you're getting too much [lead] for baby."
Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg, Edmonton physician, co-author of study published in the Journal of Toxicology

"Lead is a brain poison and that's a big public health concern. To hear that there is a new route to exposure, something that people are ingesting, is very troubling."
Dr. Gideon Forman, executive director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

"I don't think there's cause for alarm. [But] if you drink a lot of tea when you're pregnant, that's probably not a good thing, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason as to which teas are higher or lower [in lead content contamination]."
Michael Brauer, University of British Columbia

At its extreme, lead poisoning can cause coma and death. At reduced levels it can be responsible for a reduction in IQ and consequently academic success. Pregnant women and young children face particular risks -- points out this new study -- from lead contamination in tea. The study authors conducted tests on tea bags commonly sold in supermarkets.

The results of their study indicated that teas coming from China were more heavily tainted with metals than teas coming out of India, Japan, Sri Lanka and other tea-producing sources. China, as it happens is heavily reliant on burning enormous amounts of coal to produce heat and energy. The lead content of the absorbing soil on which all vegetation is grown is compromised in China, as a result.

Heightened levels of lead in the blood of expectant mothers have been linked to hypertension, spontaneous abortion, low birth weight and neurological problems, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

On the other hand, recent research also suggests that the anti-oxidants present in green tea have definite health benefits. They have the potential of reducing cholesterol and coronary-artery disease, hypertension and inflammation. There are even suggestions, supported by some research, denied by others, that the anti-oxidants in tea (lesser amounts in black tea) can help prevent some types of cancer.

The Alberta researchers authorized a laboratory to analyze thirty common tea brands and types of tea bags, sourced from a variety of local supermarkets. The purpose was to search for a variety of elements present in the tea.

What they discovered is that 73% of teas brewed for three minutes and 83% of those that were brewed for fifteen minutes contained lead levels well in excess of the .5 micrograms (.005 milligrams) per litre deemed the safe limit for pregnant and lactating women in the State of California's toxic-chemicals program.

Those samples identified as having come from Chinese tea plantations proved to have the highest lead levels. Oolong tea followed, then green tea and black tea.  Lest tea lovers congratulate themselves for choosing organic teas, that category brewed more than fifteen minutes had particularly elevated lead levels, according to the study.

Teas grown in India and Sri Lanka were found to be less likely to be contaminated with high lead content. It is now being suggested that clear labelling respecting tea sources be adopted to clarify which types of tea and from where they were sourced present no mystery to consumers.

Not to worry; most non-pregnant adults have no need for concern. It is pregnant women and those women who are breast-feeding who consume three or four cups a day who might be at risk. And through their ingestion of lead-laced tea, causing a risk to their fetus. Although it would be of benefit to all consumers to know where their tea was sourced.

No comment from any representatives of the Tea Association of Canada. But the conclusions reached and the potential danger inherent in the use of a product always thought to be an healthy alternative to say, coffee, (tea has lower caffeine levels than coffee, though coffee is held to have some health attributes) is that tea consumption would be best "severely limited" for expectant mothers.

And though the Tea Association of Canada would blanch at the very idea, a recommendation was made that licensing authorities might wish to consider public-health warnings and industry regulation. The under-developed brains of fetuses are particularly at risk during their period of neurological development to the presence of lead.

Thus spake medical science.