Coca-Cola and PepsiCo sold soft drinks containing pesticides harmful to human health and misled India’s one billion people over claims that their products were safe for human consumption, Indian MPs concluded on Wednesday.
Their report recommended stringent new regulations for fizzy drinks, which would ”seek complete freedom from pesticide residues [in] aerated beverages”.
An estimated seven bottles of cold drinks are sold to every Indian each year in a market worth £900-million. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for more than 80% of the market,
The row between soft-drink makers and campaigners erupted last summer when a Delhi-based environmental group, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), claimed that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products manufactured in India contained toxins far above the norms permitted in the developed world.
Tests by campaigners showed Pepsi’s soft drinks had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under European Union regulations and Coca-Cola’s had 30 times the level.
The CSE said that, in all 12 of the soft drinks it tested, toxins including lindane and DDT were found. If ingested over long periods, these chemicals could lead to cancer and failure of the immune system. Similar tests on United States colas found no such residues.
MPs said on Wednesday that five laboratories had confirmed, but not replicated, the results on Indian colas.
”We did not find exactly the same level of pesticides or the same quantities but this was because they were not exactly the same samples. For example, the batches were different, the manufacturing was different. But all contained pesticides,” said Sanjay Nirupam, a member of India’s upper house who sat on the joint parliamentary committee.
Nirupam added: ”The consumer has to be sure what they are buying is safe. You do not find US colas with pesticides, so why force us to drink pesticides?”
The cross-party committee has been convened only three times before, and experts say it is inconceivable that India’s government would not act on its findings. Evidence to the committee suggested that even the toughest safety requirements would cost companies less than half a penny for each bottle sold. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have contested the claims, even wheeling out the Bollywood stars Amir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan last year to reassure consumers.
On Wednesday both companies said they were ”reviewing” the report. In a statement PepsiCo reiterated its claim that the company has ”always produced beverages in India that are absolutely safe and made according to the same high quality standards we use around the world”.
But Wednesday’s decision by MPs to uphold the findings of the CSE has been hailed as a victory for environmentalists.
”The joint parliamentary committee has to be congratulated for putting public health first,” said Sunita Narain, a director of the CSE. ”These companies have operated outside the ambit of the law all over the world. The implications are that if you can do this here then it is also incumbent on other governments to adopt these standards.”
The two US companies were also attacked over the running of two bottling plants in the southern Indian state of Kerala. MPs said Coca-Cola’s and Pepsi’s operations had resulted in pollution of water, depletion of ground water, reduced yield in crops, skin disorders and other ailments.
Both companies claim that far from depleting the local water supply they were in fact recharging the aquifers with the same amount of water they used. But the report says their efforts were not ”commensurate enough”.
Narain also noted that the implications of the report go beyond the role of multinationals. The Indian government is taken to task for failing to provide clean drinking water to its population. Almost all tap water in India contains traces of toxins and the report says governments should set safety standards that are legally enforceable.
”Never mind Coke, it is water that is the real thing in India,” she said.
Bottle battles
- Coca-Cola India says it has invested $1-billion in India in the past decade and employs 10 000 people directly and 125 000 indirectly. The vast majority are paid about $1,30 a day. It has a 60% share of a soft-drink market worth $940-million a year.
- Its Plachimada bottling plant in Kerala has been a target for protesters after villagers claimed it was depleting ground water reserves.
- The company admits taking 1,5-million litres a day, but denies it is responsible for shortages, claiming that lower than usual rainfall is to blame.
- The Kerala government said it found no trace of dangerous levels of cadmium after a BBC allegation last year.
- Coca-Cola also faces protests about water extraction and pollution at its plant at Mehdiganj, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
- A third protest has begun at Sivganga in Tamil Nadu, which is already facing water shortages.
— Guardian Unlimited Â