Does Celestial, a brand that makes teas, still use pesticides?

I couldn’t find any organic Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea, so they still might be using them.

On their website they say that their Certified Organic Teas are only available at Whole Foods Market. They have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Why not log on to one of those and ask the question directly to them? Companies often respond promptly when questions are asked publicly.

Or you could just order the organic tea from them online directly?

I like searching for answers but this was all quite easily available information on their website. Can I ask why you didn’t try there yourself?

Hain Celestial Group, Inc. admits to having received warnings letters from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They claim that the letters had nothing to do with quality control. However, the warning letters revealed that the company failed to meet several quality control requirements.

Thanks for asking this question. The concerns about Celestial Seasonings’ tea have been prominent since 2013, at least, and I can’t see where the company has taken any real measures to address those concerns.
I won’t be using their products unless they take steps to prove they are safe.

We need to be as critical of the source of these claims as we are quick to jump ship. The claims against Celestial Seasonings were made in 2014 by a “third party” research organization, Glaucus Research, a shortseller, whose business, according to the blog Teabiz is to make stocks fall in value. This hardly sounds like a consumer watchdog organization to me.

@ibstubro According to the “Teabiz” blog linked above:

Following the Glaucus report and subsequent re-posting of the information (Celestial Seasonings) submitted their products for testing at the National Food Lab (NFL). NFL did not detect any pesticides and gave assurances that the products meet industry standards and are safe. Celestial Seasonings also cited their protocols for testing all of their product ingredients for pesticides, herbicides and insecticides and its industry audits for Safe Quality Foods (SQF) certifications.

Let’s consider the source and the motivation of reports like this.

3–22-13 ‘Dangerously high pesticide levels’ found in Celestial Seasonings teas

Eurofins Scientific, who did the testing, “determined that many varieties of Celestial Seasonings teas contained potentially dangerous levels of multiple pesticides.”

Three years. Where’s Hain’s crushing refutation of a respected scientific lab’s findings?

“Glaucus would benefit from bad news about the company, but they can be sued for fraud if they knowingly put out a false report. Hain has filed no such lawsuit so far.”

Three years.

@ibstubro Where’s Hain’s crushing refutation of a respected scientific lab’s findings?

I repost: (National Food Lab) did not detect any pesticides and gave assurances that the products meet industry standards and are safe. Celestial Seasonings also cited their protocols for testing all of their product ingredients for pesticides, herbicides and insecticides and its industry audits for Safe Quality Foods (SQF) certifications.

All I’m saying is let’s look at both sides.

@Yetanotheruser Hey, wait a minit. Ain’t you some kinda coffee drinker?

@Espiritus_Corvus Yes, I am a major coffee drinker! In the interest of full disclosure, I will also say I have financial interest in a website that sells tea. However I have no relationship with Celestial Seasonings® or its parent company, Hain Celestial Group, other than a consumer who has enjoyed their products for many years.

My concern with this type of “research” is motivation. What is the true motivation of this report from Glaucus? Is it really to inform the public? Or is it to disinform the public, enabling a short sale of Hain stock, therefore enabling Glaucus to make huge profits on the sale.

I researched ten internet articles about Celestial Seasonings’ pesticide content, and each one referred to the Glaucus report, either directly, or to another article that in turn referred to Glaucus, or the laboratory which actually did the research for Glaucus, Eurofins Scientific.

I was able to find refuting research, done at the behest of Hain Celestial, by National Food Lab (NFL).

If there are two sides to an issue, is the side that’s correct the side whose opinion is repeated loudest and most often?

The samples tested by Eurofins Scientific were ordered from the Hain website.
The samples tested by NFL were provided by Celestial Seasonings and “Celestial Seasonings refuses to release the lab reports either, calling it “proprietary information.””

It looks to me like all Hain would have to do is hire Eurofins Scientific to repeat the test and publish the report.

There is solid scientific evidence from a respected lab that there were significant levels of pesticide in Celestial Seasonings tea as of 12–12-15.

All you said was, ‘Let’s look at both sides’.
I did. Celestial Seasonings draws the short straw.

If a woman fraudulently tried to present lab results that you were the father of her baby, would you say “No, I have lab results from a friend of mine that says I’m not.” Or would you hire the same lab to run the same test, knowing the outcome?