People who like to buy traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products from China should be wary of purchasing medicine that contains pesticide residues.
On June 24 Greenpeace East Asia released the results of an inspection that tested TCM products between July last year and April this year from nine firms in China, including Beijing, Tianjin and Hong Kong. After testing 65 different types of Chinese medicines they found that 70 percent of the samples were contaminated by residual pesticides, including more than 20 types of pesticides mixed together along with illegal pesticides.
The nine traditional Chinese medicine firms include Tong Ren Tang, Yunnan Baiyao, Hu Qing Yu Tang, Daphne, Jiuzhitang, Tasly, Cai Zhi Lin, Hongjitang and Zhang Zhongjing. The investigation found that as many as 48 of the 65 types of medicines that were tested contained remnants of pesticides. Three or more pesticides were detected in at least 32 of the samples that were tested.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者林宜樟
They found that the amount of thiophanate-methyl in Tong Ren Tang’s panax pseudoginseng contained 500 times the maximum residue limits as stipulated by the EU, while levels of the fungicide found in Japanese honeysuckle from Yunnan Baiyao were over 100 times the maximum residue level accepted by the agency.
TCM products are often used in cooking as health supplements or to treat illness. Ingesting pesticides can cause chronic pesticide poisoning and lead to health problems, including learning difficulties, hormone disorders and reproductive system irregularities.
Nearly 90 percent of TCM drugs in Taiwan are imported from China and many people traveling from Taiwan to China buy local TCM drugs there. Wang Jing, Greenpeace East Asia’s project manager for pesticides, says that when natural food ingredients become synthesized chemical foods, it can be harmful to your health and hurt the environment, particularly the soil and water resources. Aside from reminding people in Taiwan to pay more attention to the seriousness of the pesticide problem regarding TCM products coming out of China and Hong Kong, Wang also urges the government to put stricter restrictions on the use of pesticides in Taiwan.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
喜歡購買中國中藥的民眾要當心，別買到有農藥殘留的中藥。
綠色和平東亞分部六月二十四日公布一項檢驗結果，去年七月至今年四月間從中國北京、天津、香港等城市的九家知名中藥行，購買六十五種中藥材進行抽驗，七成樣本被檢出農藥殘留，包括超過二十種不同農藥混合殘留和違法使用禁用農藥。
九家知名中藥店包括：同仁堂、雲南白藥、胡慶餘堂、特安吶、九芝堂、天士力、采芝林、宏濟堂、張仲景。檢測結果顯示，六十五種中藥材中多達四十八種含有農藥殘留，其中三十二個樣品都含有三種或以上農藥殘留。
另在二十六個樣品中，發現六種已經被禁止使用在中藥材上的農藥。與歐盟的農藥最大殘留標準相比較，同仁堂三七花中檢出的甲基多保淨超標五百倍，雲南白藥金銀花也超標一百餘倍。
中藥材多被用以入菜作為食補或是治療疾病，農藥殘留食用後，恐會引起慢性農藥中毒，可能導致學習困難、荷爾蒙混亂、生殖系統異常等危害健康問題。
鑑於台灣的中藥材幾乎九成自中國進口，民眾到中國旅遊更幾乎都會購買當地藥材，綠色和平東亞分部農業專案主任王婧警告，天然的食材變成了化學合成食品，不但影響健康也破壞環境，尤其是土壤和水源，除提醒台灣民眾注意中港藥材農藥嚴重問題，也呼籲台灣政府嚴格控管農藥使用。
（自由時報記者劉力仁）
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