Dear Sri Kumar, My basic interest is Water and cold drinks and their negative effects on human health come after that. Water is essential and like it or not it is slowly being pushed into private domain. In a few years time people will have to pay to river owners for a glass of water. Pesticide etc is a part of the control on water. I am placing a link Mayors Vote to End Taxpayer Spending on Bottled Water
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1761.cfm according to which Americans have at last found out that bottled water is not needed for any good reason. 60 Mayors have decided to cancel contract. Do we learn anything from this w.r.t India, Jharkhand, Kerala or Orissa? Cold drinks are matter of choice but well informed people have a duty to point out to the mischief making going on in terms of health, wealth, corruption and uncalled for misuse of natural resources. --- In [email protected], S kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dr.Sharmaji, > > Good, you have opened the topic of soft drink factory in far of Kerala and the surrounding villages had to be evacuated for want of potable water- (water-tables went down below the reach of wells and domestic bores) and use of the toxic wate from Coca Cola factory as fertiliser, toxifying the soil of agricultural lands that could not be cultivsince 2 years until these are washed away by the rains. > > Even now, the wells do not have water and as you wrote, tankers are supplying water to the villages. > > Sunita Narain had analysed Cocal Cola and other soft drinks and officially declared the results of high toxic contents of pesticides- ten times more than maximum allowed- and toxic minerals and salts. The multinational apparently bribed the Govt. officials who have now got the specification revised to higher levels only for Indian consumers!! > > READ HOW A MULTINATIONAL COULD MANIPULATE OUR PARLIAMENT MEMBERS, MINISTERS AND GOVT. TO MAKE INDIANS DRINK TOXIC COLA-S!! > Panel raises pesticide limit in water, soft drinks > http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=157896 > > ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online : Friday, March 16, 2007 at 0000 hours IST > > NEW DELHI, MAR 15: The MK Ganguly panel constituted by the health ministry in November 2004 to suggest the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticides in carbonated beverages, fruits, vegetable juices and other finished products has recommended a maximum residue limit (MRL) of one part per billion (ppb) for pesticide in carbonated water. > > In contrast, a government notification of 2003 had prescribed that MRLs for any pesticide in water used for carbonated beverages should not be more than 0.1 ppb. Collectively, the total pesticide residue should not be more than 0.5 ppb. > > India's largest soft drinks manufacturers Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India welcomed the recommendation saying the companies would adhere to the standards as and when they are notified along with a validated test methodology. > > The panel claimed "this value is based on consumer safety, analytical measurability and achievability with good manufacturing practices." It also called for setting up of an independent cell for "promptly providing an objective risk assessment evaluation on a wide array of food safety issues and also for effective risk communication in a transparent manner." The panel said that the prescribed MRLs for a group of pesticides like DDT-R, chloropyriphos, malathion and endosulfan should be for 3 years and reviewed after newer purification technologies emerge in future. > > The panel suggested generation of data on consumption pattern of carbonated beverages and processed food. It also suggested generation of data on consumption pattern of different socio-economic groups for different food commodities and geographical regionwise consumption pattern. > > The national level expert panel was set up under the chairmanship of the director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) NK Ganguly to guide the ministry's sub-committee in fixing the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticides in carbonated beverages, fruits and vegetable juices and other finished products, including the methodology, toxicity, risk analysis. > > The Ganguly panel concurred with the report of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) that the MRLs for pesticides in fruit and vegetable juices should be different from that in carbonated water. ICMR study revealed "there is no significant contribution of sugar towards contamination of carbonated water" and any higher levels of contamination due to sugar should be removed through good manufacturing practices. > > COKE TOXICITY AND DAMAGES INTERNAL ORGANS > > #1. In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident. > > #2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two days. > > #3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china. > > #4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca- Cola. > > #5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion. > > #6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes. > > #7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy. > > #8... To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke into the load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield. > > FOR YOUR INFORMATION: > > #1. the active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase of osteoporosis. > > #2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup! (the concentrate) the commercial trucks must use a hazardous Material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials . > > #3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean engines of the trucks for about 20 years! > Now the question is, would you like a glass of water? or Coke? Have a nice day! > > PLACHIMADA PANCHAYAT COULD NOT FIGHT THE CASE AT HIGH COURT SINCE THE MAXIMUM FUNDS ALLOWED FOR LITIGATION IS RS.5000/- GROSSLY INADEQUATE FOR EVEN FILING THE APPEAL!! > > > > > > --- On Thu, 6/26/08, Dr.V.N. Sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > From: Dr.V.N. Sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [ =>> Jharkhand <<= ] Coke In India: A Not-So-Silent Spring > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 9:18 PM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Jharkhand Forum | Jharkhand.org. in/forum > > > > Coke In India: A Not-So-Silent Spring > June 2008 > > > > > > > > > > > > India 6.3.08: Governmet trucks deliver drinking water twice a weekAmong the thatched huts, coconut trees, and dirt roads that comprise the small south Indian village of Plachimada, sits a virtual fortress of cement and razor wire. Past the gate and a large, mangled sign is a massive Coca-Cola plant that was forced shut in 2004 for polluting drinking water and draining local wells. > Though the plant is now dormant, residents say they have yet to achieve justice for the toll Coke has taken on their community. With help from allies in India and abroad, their plight is now being echoed in the media, at Coke's annual shareholders' meetings and on college campuses worldwide. It has even catapulted the issue of water as a human right into the Supreme Court of India. > The water problems in Plachimada started during Coke's first year of operation, according to Veloor Swaminathan, a resident who was part of the struggle against the Coke plant. He first noticed impurities in the wells closest to the plant and, as time went on, the radius of polluted wells expanded rapidly outward. > The complaints came from people throughout the village. The water tasted and smelled bad, and gave people skin rashes and stomach illnesses. When it was used to cook rice or lentils, the food became inedible within an hour or two. > Swaminathan says the water became so bad that, "even the dogs refused to drink it." Although the water has improved somewhat since the plant closed, the villagers still depend on government-subsidiz ed trucks to deliver water each week. > In a move that raised eyebrows throughout India and the world, Coke even went so far as to dispose of their production byproduct sludge laced with lead and cadmium by calling it fertilizer and selling it or giving it away to Plachimada's residents. This disposal method was inadequate, so the sludge waste was dumped in various locations such as coconut fields, polluting the land and the groundwater beneath it. > "Coke has dumped on this community, run it dry and then tried to sweep it under the rug," said Corporate Accountability International Campaigns Director Patti Lynn, who has led the organization' s Coke in India campaign since 2004. "The conviction of local activists, and their solidarity with people and organizations around the world, have insured that Coke will ultimately have to answer for its abuses." > The issues raised in the Plachimada struggle are now expected to be contested in the Supreme Court of India notably, how India's groundwater should be controlled and by whom. > "This struggle has forced the fundamental issues into the legal arena such as, `who has the primary decision-making rights over water (groundwater in this case) the people, local governing bodies, the state government, or the central government,'" says C. R. Bijoy, an Indian activist who has supported the struggle. > The legal questions raised by the Plachimada struggle mirror those at Coke, Nestlé and other bottling plants in the United States specifically, whether water should be prioritized for meeting basic human needs, or available to whomever has the largest pumps and can make the largest profit. And similar to the United States, there are laws in India that are designed to protect communities' right to water against attempts by corporations to control the resource. > "Which is superior water for survival or water for profit?" says C. R. Bijoy. "The Plachimada struggle calls for the recovery of the commons by communities." > Though most in the struggle are optimistic about the final verdict, for many like R. Ajayan of the Plachimada Solidarity Council, the most important decision has already been made. > "Whatever may be the court's position, the people's verdict will be final," said Ajayan. > > www.stopcorporateab use.org >
