Is it true or are they trying to increase the sale of Thumps-Up and Fanta (are they still there?)?
>From: Saurav Pathak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: AssamNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [Assam] pesticides in cold drinks
>Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 08:12:03 -0400
>
>Tests reveal pesticides in Coke, Pepsi, Mirinda
>
>TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 05, 2003 01:53:33 PM ]
>
>NEW DELHI: After bottled water, it's aerated water that has plugged
>the purity test. In another expos�, Down To Earth has found that 12
>major cold drink brands sold in and around Delhi contain a deadly
>cocktail of pesticide residues dangerous enough to cause, in the
>long term, cancer, birth defects besides damaging the nervous and
>reproductive systems.
>
>The results are based on tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring
>Laboratory (PML) of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). In
>February this year, the CSE had blasted the bottled water industry's
>claims of being pure when its laboratory had found pesticide
>residues in bottled water sold in Delhi and Mumbai.
>
>This time, it analysed the contents of 12 cold drink brands sold in
>and around the capital. They were tested for organochlorine and
>organophosphorus pesticides and synthetic pyrethroids - all commonly
>used in India as insecticides.
>
>The test results showed that all samples contained residues of four
>extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion
>and chlorpyrifos. In all 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 (EEC).
>
>Each sample had enough poison to cause - in the long term - cancer,
>damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, birth defects and
>severe disruption of the immune system.
>
>The tests also revealed that market leaders Coca-Cola and Pepsi had
>almost similar concentrations of pesticide residues. Total
>pesticides in all PepsiCo brands on an average were 0.0180 mg/l
>(milligramme per litre), 36 times higher than the EEC limit for
>total pesticides (0.0005 mg/l). Total pesticides in all Coca-Cola
>brands on an average were 0.0150 mg/l, 30 times higher than the EEC
>limit.
>
>While contaminants in Pepsi were 37 times higher than the EEC limit,
>they exceeded the norms by 45 times in Coca-Cola. Mirinda Lemon
>topped the chart among all the tested brand samples, with a total
>pesticide concentration of 0.0352 mg/l.
>
>The cold drinks sector in India is a much bigger money-spinner than
>the bottled water segment. In 2001, Indians consumed over 6,500
>million bottles of cold drinks. Its growing popularity means that
>children and teenagers, who glug these bottles, are drinking a toxic
>potion.
>
>PML also tested two soft drink brands sold in the US, to see if they
>contained pesticides. They didn't.
>
>CSE found that the regulations for the powerful and massive soft
>drinks industry are much weaker, indeed non-existent, as compared to
>those for the bottled water industry. The norms that exist to
>regulate the quality of cold drinks are a maze of meaningless
>definitions. This "food" sector is virtually unregulated.
>
>The Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act of 1954, or the Fruit
>Products Order (FPO) of 1955 - both mandatory acts aimed at
>regulating the quality of contents in beverages such as cold drinks
>- do not even provide any scope for regulating pesticides in soft
>drinks. The FPO, under which the industry gets its licence to
>operate, has standards for lead and arsenic that are 50 times higher
>than those allowed for the bottled water industry.
>
>What's more, the sector is also exempted from the provisions of
>industrial licensing under the Industries (Development and
>Regulation) Act, 1951. It gets a one-time licence to operate from
>the ministry of food processing industries; this licence includes a
>no-objection certificate from the local government as well as the
>state pollution control board, and a water analysis report. There
>are no environmental impact assessments, or sitting regulations. The
>industry's use of water, therefore, is not regulated.
>
>
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