Posted on 08/08/2003 8:05:20 AM PDT by murdoog
The Indian government said on Wednesday it was investigating a report by an environment group about pesticides in beverages sold by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, as parliament stopped the sale of Coke and Pepsi drinks on its premises.
"It is a very serious matter. I have asked for a comprehensive report," Health Minister Sushma Swaraj told members of the lower house of parliament.
The Indian units of Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO - News) and PepsiCo Inc (NYSE:PEP - News) have rejected the report by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, which said soft drinks sold in India had high levels of pesticides such as DDT and malathion.
The two soft drink giants said in a rare joint conference on Tuesday that their products sold in India conformed to world standards and they were prepared for tests by independent and certified labs.
"The report is baseless and should be disregarded. We conform to the best international norms. We're open to our product being tested anywhere in the world by an independent and accredited laboratory," Rajeev Bakshi, CEO of Pepsi India, told reporters.
Some parliament deputies said the report had caused panic and demanded the government impose a nationwide ban on the sale of Coke and Pepsi soft drinks.
"As chairman of the food committee of parliament, I announce the supply of Pepsi and Coca-Cola will be discontinued in parliament," lawmaker E. Ahmed said.
A clerk in parliament's government-run restaurant where deputies dine said he had received instructions not to sell Coke or Pepsi soft drinks.
The Centre for Science and Environment is a private, non-government organisation that has campaigned aggressively in the past on green issues, including a successful campaign for use of non-polluting compressed natural gas for public transport in the Indian capital, one of the world's most polluted cities.
The centre said tests conducted by its Pollution Monitoring Laboratory showed cold drink brands sold by the two firms in India contained four toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos.
Soft drinks in India had high pesticide residues because the soft drink and bottled water industry uses an enormous amount of ground water as basic raw material, it said.
The environment group said it had found no pesticides in tests of Coke and Pepsi soft drinks brands sold in the United States.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.