Pepsi, Coke contain pesticides
Pepsi, Coke contain pesticides: CSE
August 05, 2003 15:14 IST
Last Updated: August 05, 2003 17:02 IST
Close on the heels of a major health scare on finding pesticides in bottled drinking water, a non-government organisation on Tuesday claimed that the bottled soft drinks owned by two multi national companies -- PepsiCo and Coke -- also failed the same health standards testing positive for pesticides.
"12 major cold drink brands sold in Delhi and around contain a deadly cocktail of pesticide residues," Centre for Science and Environment said in New Delhi.
Officials of both PepsiCo and Coke declined to comment on the tests saying the two companies will be holding a joint press conference later.
According to the tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE, all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos.
The PML team involved in the tests was Dr H B Mathur, Dr Sapna Johnson and Avinash Kumar.
Three samples each of the 12 brands purchased from markets across the city, analysed in April-August and found to contain pesticides residues are Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Mirinda orange, Mirinda Lemon, Blue Pepsi, 7-Up, Coca Cola, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Thumbs Up.
Mathur said these pesticides included potent carcinogens which can cause cancers and reduce bone mineral density.
Johnson said the basic inference drawn from the tests is that groundwater used for making soft drinks is infested with pesticides. She said PML tested the cold drink samples for 16 organochlorine pesticides, 12 organophosphorous and four synthetic pyrethroids -- all of which are commonly used in India as insecticides.
CSE chief Sunita Narain said in all the samples, levels of pesticide residues far exceeded the maximum residue limit for pesticides in water used as "food", set down by the European Economic Commission.
Both Pepsi and Coca Cola had almost similar concentrations of pesticide residues.
In all PepsiCo brands, total pesticides on an average were 0.0180 mg/litre, 36 times higher than the EEC limit of total pesticides at 0.0005 mg/l.
In Coca Cola brands they averaged at 0.0150 mg/l, 30 times higher than the EEC limit.
Mirinda Lemon topped the chart among all the tested brand samples with a total pesticide concentration of 0.0352 mg/l.
Coca Cola and PepsiCo brands sold in the United States were also tested and found not to contain pesticides.
Narain, however, said in India, these companies cannot be taken to court since the norms that regulate manufacturing of cold drinks here are a "meaningless maze."
Source : [SIZE=-1]www.rediff.com/money/2003/aug/05pepsicoke.htm[/SIZE]
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August 05, 2006
Coke and Pepsi told to spill secrets or face ban
From Ashling O'Connor in Bombay
INDIA’S highest court yesterday demanded that Coca-Cola should reveal its secret formula for the first time in 120 years.
The Supreme Court ordered the US soft drinks maker, along with its rival PepsiCo, to supply details of the chemical composition and ingredients of their products after a study released this week claimed that they contained unacceptable levels of insecticides.
Justice S. B. Sinha and Justice Dalveer Bhandari directed the companies to file their replies within four weeks, the Press Trust of India reported. “If they don’t comply, then the court has the authority to suspend sales,” Shreyas Patel, a lawyer at Fox Mandal Little, India’s oldest law firm, said. “But no one is going to give away a 120-year-old secret, especially in a country like India. Someone would go and make it themselves.”
Coca-Cola’s original recipe, according to company policy, is kept in a bank vault in Atlanta where only two executives — banned from travelling on the same aircraft — know it.
The court order followed the release of a report by the Centre for Science and Environment, a non-government body, which contended that 11 brands sold by the two soft drinks makers contained high levels of pesticide residues. The organisation said that samples from 12 states showed that Pepsi products contained 30 times more pesticides than in 2003, when a similar study was conducted. Coke samples had 25 times the amount of pesticides as three years ago.
The report, published on Wednesday, caused a row in India’s lower house, where MPs from across the political spectrum brandished its findings as reason enough to ban the sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. “These companies are playing with the lives of millions and we can’t ignore such warnings any more,” said Vijay Kumar Malhotra, from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which staged a walkout over the issue .
It is not the first time Coca-Cola and Pepsi have found themselves mired in controversy in India. They are regular whipping boys for politicians who regard Western food products as a threat to Indian heritage, although sceptics suggest that their opposition has more to do with the companies’ virtual monopoly of the market than genuinely held feelings of cultural protectionism.
The US companies joined forces through the Indian Soft Drink Manufacturers’ Association to reject the findings of the study. “Consumer safety is paramount to us,” they said. “The soft drinks manufactured in India comply with stringent international norms and all applicable national regulations.”
The Bureau of Indian Standards, the highest government body to maintain product quality certification, has set a pesticide standard for bottled water but not for soft drinks.
In 2003, at the time of the last report, pesticide claims provoked a backlash. Schools banned colas, and fruit juice sales boomed as yoga gurus reminded people of the value of healthy drinking. Coca-Cola’s sales dropped by as much as 11 per cent in the subsequent financial quarter.
Source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2299363,00.html
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Just check out the dates... For 3 yrs they dont do anything and then suddenly wake up from the grave...
I smell something spooky... DO you ??
Pepsi, Coke contain pesticides: CSE
August 05, 2003 15:14 IST
Last Updated: August 05, 2003 17:02 IST
Close on the heels of a major health scare on finding pesticides in bottled drinking water, a non-government organisation on Tuesday claimed that the bottled soft drinks owned by two multi national companies -- PepsiCo and Coke -- also failed the same health standards testing positive for pesticides.
"12 major cold drink brands sold in Delhi and around contain a deadly cocktail of pesticide residues," Centre for Science and Environment said in New Delhi.
Officials of both PepsiCo and Coke declined to comment on the tests saying the two companies will be holding a joint press conference later.
According to the tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE, all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos.
The PML team involved in the tests was Dr H B Mathur, Dr Sapna Johnson and Avinash Kumar.
Three samples each of the 12 brands purchased from markets across the city, analysed in April-August and found to contain pesticides residues are Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Mirinda orange, Mirinda Lemon, Blue Pepsi, 7-Up, Coca Cola, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Thumbs Up.
Mathur said these pesticides included potent carcinogens which can cause cancers and reduce bone mineral density.
Johnson said the basic inference drawn from the tests is that groundwater used for making soft drinks is infested with pesticides. She said PML tested the cold drink samples for 16 organochlorine pesticides, 12 organophosphorous and four synthetic pyrethroids -- all of which are commonly used in India as insecticides.
CSE chief Sunita Narain said in all the samples, levels of pesticide residues far exceeded the maximum residue limit for pesticides in water used as "food", set down by the European Economic Commission.
Both Pepsi and Coca Cola had almost similar concentrations of pesticide residues.
In all PepsiCo brands, total pesticides on an average were 0.0180 mg/litre, 36 times higher than the EEC limit of total pesticides at 0.0005 mg/l.
In Coca Cola brands they averaged at 0.0150 mg/l, 30 times higher than the EEC limit.
Mirinda Lemon topped the chart among all the tested brand samples with a total pesticide concentration of 0.0352 mg/l.
Coca Cola and PepsiCo brands sold in the United States were also tested and found not to contain pesticides.
Narain, however, said in India, these companies cannot be taken to court since the norms that regulate manufacturing of cold drinks here are a "meaningless maze."
Source : [SIZE=-1]www.rediff.com/money/2003/aug/05pepsicoke.htm[/SIZE]
=========================================================
August 05, 2006
Coke and Pepsi told to spill secrets or face ban
From Ashling O'Connor in Bombay
INDIA’S highest court yesterday demanded that Coca-Cola should reveal its secret formula for the first time in 120 years.
The Supreme Court ordered the US soft drinks maker, along with its rival PepsiCo, to supply details of the chemical composition and ingredients of their products after a study released this week claimed that they contained unacceptable levels of insecticides.
Justice S. B. Sinha and Justice Dalveer Bhandari directed the companies to file their replies within four weeks, the Press Trust of India reported. “If they don’t comply, then the court has the authority to suspend sales,” Shreyas Patel, a lawyer at Fox Mandal Little, India’s oldest law firm, said. “But no one is going to give away a 120-year-old secret, especially in a country like India. Someone would go and make it themselves.”
Coca-Cola’s original recipe, according to company policy, is kept in a bank vault in Atlanta where only two executives — banned from travelling on the same aircraft — know it.
The court order followed the release of a report by the Centre for Science and Environment, a non-government body, which contended that 11 brands sold by the two soft drinks makers contained high levels of pesticide residues. The organisation said that samples from 12 states showed that Pepsi products contained 30 times more pesticides than in 2003, when a similar study was conducted. Coke samples had 25 times the amount of pesticides as three years ago.
The report, published on Wednesday, caused a row in India’s lower house, where MPs from across the political spectrum brandished its findings as reason enough to ban the sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. “These companies are playing with the lives of millions and we can’t ignore such warnings any more,” said Vijay Kumar Malhotra, from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which staged a walkout over the issue .
It is not the first time Coca-Cola and Pepsi have found themselves mired in controversy in India. They are regular whipping boys for politicians who regard Western food products as a threat to Indian heritage, although sceptics suggest that their opposition has more to do with the companies’ virtual monopoly of the market than genuinely held feelings of cultural protectionism.
The US companies joined forces through the Indian Soft Drink Manufacturers’ Association to reject the findings of the study. “Consumer safety is paramount to us,” they said. “The soft drinks manufactured in India comply with stringent international norms and all applicable national regulations.”
The Bureau of Indian Standards, the highest government body to maintain product quality certification, has set a pesticide standard for bottled water but not for soft drinks.
In 2003, at the time of the last report, pesticide claims provoked a backlash. Schools banned colas, and fruit juice sales boomed as yoga gurus reminded people of the value of healthy drinking. Coca-Cola’s sales dropped by as much as 11 per cent in the subsequent financial quarter.
Source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2299363,00.html
========================================================
Just check out the dates... For 3 yrs they dont do anything and then suddenly wake up from the grave...
I smell something spooky... DO you ??