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Front Page of the Vanuatu Daily Post - The End of Kava Exports?

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Maybe I can pre-empt the debate here. Nobody has said that we should only drink noble Vanuatu kavas and exclude all the other islands. Nobody. What we are saying is that there is a type of kava that may not be safe for human consumption ("tudei" kava included) and with the extremely cheap and simple qualitative test available, there is no reason for any vendor to be selling these types of kava. That's all I have to say about this.
 

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
On a lighter note, I don't suppose you have any more videos or maybe some positive research to share? Thanks for going and posting this.
 

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Their website is unreliable. Here is the entire text
The Vanuatu Government needs to quickly move on enforcing the protocols of the Vanuatu Kava Act or face the loss of kava as an export to the United States as well as the European Union.

At the Kava symposium held in Fiji last week, attended by Ruth Amos from the Vanuatu Department of Agriculture, the main area of concern was the use of two-day kava in export markets. By what participants said of the Vanuatu export kava markets it is in a dire situation teetering on possible collapse due to questionable practices by growers, exporters and overseas sellers.

Dr. Matthias Schmidt, the keynote speaker, delivered what should be taken as a warning to all those involved in the kava industry.
The export of two-day “kava” is continuing, despite the stipulations of Vanuatu’s Kava Act. These plants have the possibility of causing illnesses in drinkers, and shutting down what remains of the kava market for good. The conclusion: Establishing a standard for noble kava in the CODEX with the WHO, of whom Vanuatu is now a member, which will define for the world once and for all which kava is safe, which Vanuatu has always known, and what plants should not even be called “kava.”

Picture-slides were shown of “menus” from US nakamals, including one in Portland, Oregon openly selling Isa to drink. Dr. Vincent Lebot, perhaps the world’s most famous kava researcher, has continually recommended against consuming this plant.
He took it to Hawaii for “genetic research only” from PNG, and it somehow “escaped” the greenhouse. It is now one of Hawaii’s most widely grown plants. “Genetically, it is a completely different plant from drinkable, noble kava types, and research has long demonstrated this.”

Another attendee was Andrew Procyk, a former academic and current US kava vendor, who has been featured in the Daily Post before. Sadly, he was the only kava vendor in attendance, and could not express enough concern at the information presented. Procyk came to Vanuatu for further research after the conference and made himself available for this article. “Clearly, there are farmers, exporters, and importers that either do not know, or simply do not care about the future of the kava market,” he said. He is currently providing Dr. Schmidt with data for the upcoming EU court case in attempts to re-open the market after the ban. He hopes the CODEX standards will be quickly established to keep dangerous kava from being used. “Kava is completely safe, and the plants some of these sellers are peddling cannot even rightfully be called ‘kava’ at all.”

A local exporter to the New Caledonia market, spoke of exporters and villages that he knows are growing two-day kava for export, but noble kava for their own use.

Non-noble kavas grow more rapidly, allowing quicker short-term gains but jeopardizing the future of the industry. “If they will not drink what they themselves are growing for others, clearly there is a problem.”

This problem is apparently commonplace among villages in Pentecost and much of the kava exported from Santo. “There must be a way to enforce the Kava Act more stringently, or the entire kava economy could be in jeopardy.

Pacific nations have long known what good kava is. It is precisely why we have had a Kava Act for years in Vanuatu.”
Dr. Lebot also believes it is a race against time. “The EU has delayed the case, and they are simply looking for a signal from the US to justify their past actions.” If a negative event occurs in America, it is possible the US market, too, will cease to exist for kava producing nations.

With all of the kava being sold to the US market that Procyk says is “known rubbish,” the establishment and enforcement of an international standard is more important than ever. He believes that a negative event is “extremely possible” in light of the situation. As a result, he is pulling himself more and more away from his business, and hopes to devote his time to assisting research that will help preserve the kava market for the future.

“The biggest shame is that many of us are working to also save the market for the very scoundrels who are knowingly in the process of jeopardizing and destroying it.”
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
Enforce it! Prevent tuday from being imported. We can't blame any vendor if they can't sell it. I'm completely on board. Hell, what can we do to help? If the rules are as black and white as you say then we have nothing to argue about. What's safe is safe, and what's not is not. How could it be more complicated? It seems the time for splitting hairs is over.
 

Andrew Procyk

Noble Kava
Kava Vendor
Just want to make the point, EVERY researcher at the forum, and those I have spoken with who were not at the forums, including Lebot, speak of the distinction of "noble" kavas, and others. It is important to use the same language, and when one is using different language than EVERY major researcher in the field, there is, and will be a communication problem... like it or not. It was fir that reason binomial nomenclature in Latin was devised. We now know, in many fields, that does not go far enough. There are kavas called noble, which are consumptive, and the others are not. If it is consumptive (has particular lactone-to-flavokawain ratios) it is drinkable. If it does not, it is not noble. End of story. To use different language is to speak differently than those developing the CODEX.
 

Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Thanks for sharing this, I agree that Tuday kava should not be sold. That being said, I am very glad that Hawaiian varieties are all noble, as you folks know, the Isa was introduced to Hawaii and is not a Hawaiian kava, also it is not as abundant here in Hawaii as some people think it is, the reason being is that most people do not want it, they can't drink it, it is too strong and causes unwanted stomach problems not to mention all the other things like the Flavokin B.
If you drink enough Hawaiian or any other noble kava you will get the tuday effect, you can certainly get kronked on noble kava. That is why I only sell noble kava, I know this because I grow it and process it, if I do not grow it, like the Vanuatu kava I sell, I will have it tested so that I can tell it is noble from the chemotype. Rest assured that I only sell the best kava, only the best noble kava. I want only good experiences. Aloha to all.

Chris
 

HeadHodge

Bula To Eternity

HeadHodge

Bula To Eternity
....I will have it tested so that I can tell it is noble from the chemotype......


I know more or less what chemotypes are, but this is the first I've heard about using it to determine whether it's noble or not. What chemotypes do you believe to be noble and why? (You only need to refer to the first three digits of the chemotype for me, since they represent 70 plus percent of the Kavatains contained in the Kava).
 

JonT

Kava Enthusiast
I know more or less what chemotypes are, but this is the first I've heard about using it to determine whether it's noble or not. What chemotypes do you believe to be noble and why? (You only need to refer to the first three digits of the chemotype for me, since they represent 70 plus percent of the Kavatains contained in the Kava).
Chris has a detailed post on this out there somewhere. I think he's saying that there is *no* tudei kava which has a chemotype starting with kavain as the highest contributor. So a chemotype test could demonstrate that a particular kava is not a tudei. But how do you prove that a particular kava is a tudei? Is this where Lebot's test comes in?
And then, how far "up the order" do you need the double bonded kavalactones to appear before you can confirm "tudei status"?
 

Gourmet Hawaiian Kava

Kava Expert
Kava Vendor
Concerning the chemotype and how to tell if it is a tuday kava, in Lebot's research with Levesque, they found that chemotypes are genetically controlled and therefore constitute a genetic fingerprint for each cultivar. A example of tuday chemotype is 521634, 526341, kava with this chemotype have distinct physiological effects that are different from other chemotypes. It is these kava's that are rarely consumed.

The chemotypes are arranged in a 6 part group, this goes from group A,E,F,G,H and I.. The tuday kava is found in groups A, E and F, in these groups there is no kava that is good to drink, the locals as Andrew brought out recently do not drink these kinds of kava, they drink the noble varieties and these noble varieties have the chemotypes that have the 521 in the secondary position and the good, desired kavalactones are in the primary position, you always want to see the #4 in the primary position it is the 5 and the 2 that we really look at, if it is in the first 3 numbers and the 4 is in the last 3 then you have a tuday kava. You want to see the 4 in the first or second number of the chemotype. The good drinking noble kava comes from the I group in the chemotype grouping, it is interesting to note that you will find the better drinking kava chemotypes in the last of the grouping, it starts out in group A being the tuday kava and then slowly gets better going through the groups, there are some good chemotypes in the G and H group but there are also some that would be considered tuday kava. It can be a grey area when you are in these middle chemotype groups and that is another reason that they are trying to make it so that only noble kava is what we, the consumer get.
And on a side note, all of the Hawaiian Varieties are noble, Hawaii has Isa a tuday kava but it was not always here and it is very easy to tell the isa from other kava. The tuday kava has a distinct piney smell, it has a much stronger smell, I kind of like the smell, you can smell it if you crush the leaves of the isa plant.

This information came from Dr Lebot's book Kava The Pacific Elixir and other papers and publications by Dr. Lebot. You can tell from the chemotype what kava you are getting, a noble or a tuday, it is not hard to do, there just needs to be the system in place for doing this. It is in our best interest because it would be bad if we get even one more case of bad publicity or any liver scares, it would keep it very hard to get in Australia or even make it harder to get, the same in other areas of the world, it is illegal in a lot of places in Africa too right now at this point in time.
Kava is making headway now and we need to keep it that way, keep it away from the negative that might come from the tuday kava. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any questions at all. Aloha.

Chris
 
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D

Deleted User01

I say ban Tudie so we can stop talking about it. And ban K@, and ban Phenibut, and don't forget Kanna, and ...........:rolleyes:
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
is koniak tuday kava i wonder ?
It's been said that it is and it's been said that it isn't. But, it is...and if it isn't, it is borderline. In the grey-area.

What I've been wondering is, what's relation with prominent levels of dhk/dhm & lower levels of kavain to higher levels of FKB and/or other more toxic chemicals in the plant ?
And why is it not true of Boroguru which has both dhk & dhm in the 1st 3 of the chemotype, granted, it does have kavain in there too. If dhk and dhm aren't directly responsible, how are they indirectly ? Or perhaps, does (high)kavain have a reaction in vivo that helps block the toxic effects of fkb ? Or is it just coincidental that fkb happpens to show up in these "521634"-esque plants ? If, hypothetically, a mutation occurred in a tudei kava that brought kavain up to/near the top...would it still be tudei ?
 
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brett123

Kava Curious
this is all a price fixing attempt from straight out of vanautu bans lol rofl if they ban it it will be because of lobbying from the alcohol or drug industry scared about there profits if masses switch
alcohol ok although many many many die from liver failure directly linked to alcohol
the perfect replacement kava might cause liver problems sketchy data no real proof BANNED
selling tu day or not will not make any difference to this type of ban or the real reason kava has/had been restricted i believe
more likely not to get banned if a slightly more toxic product is sold
Vanautu just wants to be the sole supplier controlling the world wide price thats my take on it anyways
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
There should be, and I stress should be a testing center where kava vendors are able to, and should be required to send samples of any and all kavas sold. I also feel that any sort of testing facility should allow individuals to submit samples as well.

@brett123 Vanuatu has been the global producer and supplier since the beginning if I'm not mistaken, so solidifying their export quality would do nothing but put further restrictions on what goes out.
 
D

Deleted User01

Is Koniak Tudie? Officially it is not. Will you feel that Kava the next day? In my experience, yes you will. Will this stop everyone from drinking it? No it won't. Just like talking about the evils of Tudie only encourages some to do it.
 
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