Why do some of your lab reports show exposure to pesticides and heavy metals?
For our Kratom products, we commission an independent, accredited German laboratory to check a homogeneous sample for contamination of pesticides and of the heavy metals arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. This testing often detects minute traces of pesticides and heavy metals.
Indonesia, the main cultivation area of kratom trees, is one of the countries with the worst environmental pollution, despite its beauty. Among other things, the commercial palm trees so abundant in Indonesia, which are needed for the production of palm oil, are grown using large amounts of pesticides. These pesticides get into the groundwater, are poured into the nearby rivers by the workers or rain down elsewhere, so that we can detect small residues again and again in kratom that has been grown professionally. The kratom tree loves water and therefore prefers to grow directly on banks, where it absorbs the pesticides and heavy metals from the poisoned rivers (https://www.mongabay.co.id/2022/03/03/kebun-dan-pabrik-sawit-wilmar-diduga-cemari-sungai-di-kalimantan-barat/).
The measuring methods available in Germany are extremely sensitive and detect even minimal traces. By the way, this does not only happen in Indonesia, because also German organic farmers often complain about pesticide residues on their products, which come from the commercial neighboring field (https://www.bwagrar.de/Aktuelles/Pflanzenschutzmittel-belasten-Luft-und-Oekolandbau,QUlEPTY3MTQ1MjkmTUlEPTUxNjQ0.html).
We work exclusively with experienced wholesalers who are in close contact with their farmers and train them to avoid the use of pesticides. However due to the above-mentioned environmental factors, minimal contamination with pesticides cannot always be 100% avoided. Questionable products with major impurities do not end up on sale and are disposed of by us, as they do not meet our quality standards. In recent years, we have been able to improve many things in cooperation with our wholesalers, so that we can often no longer detect any pesticides at all.
With the help of the European Pesticide Database (https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/eu-pesticides-database) everyone has the possibility to convince himself of the harmlessness of the products. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us at https://kcandles.de/l/contact.
Heavy metals are found in almost all soils worldwide, where they have accumulated over many years. In a naturally grown product, such as the leaves of the kratom tree, they are practically unavoidable. Increased contamination can occur through the use of fertilizers and pesticides, the use of which we condemn.