Tests carried out by CSE's Pollution Monitoring Laboratory found deadly insecticides in 12 leading brands of cold drinks. The CSE exposé has generated tremendous media and public interest. Here is a day-to-day update on media coverage, government reactions and industry response

According to reports in Central Chronicle and Business Line, the Delhi high court stayed the government notification requiring companies to print their manufacturing date, best before date, and contains no fruit declaration on the body of the glass bottles than on the caps. Hindustan Coca-Cola beverages, along with its bottlers and shareholders, had petitioned the high court seeking to refrain the authorities from taking steps to compel them to destroy the existing stocks of empty bottles, pleading for more time to phase out the old stock.

Meanwhile, an article Business Line reports that the beverage industry has started a misinformation campaign claiming that the draft notification of the health ministry, which applies EU norms for water on finished products, will have several implications, and that most products in India will not be able to meet these tough standards. The Cola majors also claim that these standards will be tough to follow and legalizing them in India would be unprecedented and counter to international norms.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) raided a Delhi plant of bottled water that was picking up bottles of branded water, filling them with water and selling them under fake ISI mark of quality. Although fake bottling plants were previously reported, in Kanpur and Pun, BIS is only now realizing how widespread the problem is. According to The Times of India, Union food and consumer affairs minister Sharad Yadav ordered the BIS to conduct raids in various parts of the country to prevent further misuse

Meanwhile, Business Line reports that Coca-Cola in a press release said that the Gujarat government has cleared 17 samples of Coca-Cola taken from various parts of the state, after they tested negative for pesticides like Lindane, Chlorpyrifos, and DDT. The samples were tested at the Food and Drugs Laboratory in Vadodara.

Maharashtra Food And Drug Administration has decided to forward its report on tests conducted on soft drinks to determine pesticide residues to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, The Free Press Journal reported. The minister Anil Deshmukh said that the results had been received and they show variable percentage of pesticide residues in the products, with Pepsi containing Lindane above global norms.

Meanwhile, Kolkata mayor Subrata Mukherjee will sue the Diamond Beverages for publishing the Kolkata Municipal Corporation report clearing the soft drinks samples tested by it, The Statesman reports. Under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1956, the test report of any beverage or food cannot be published by the authority against which charges are brought.

Newstime reports that samples of Coca-Cola and Pepsi tested at the Vimta laboratory had pesticides below detectable limits, according to the Hyderabad-based Medically Aware and Responsible Citizens of Hyderabad (MARCH). Its chairman, Dr Bhargava, however, also said that 75-100 samples tested across the country by NGOs and the Union government were enough to order the two soft drinks majors to pack their bags.

With the norms for bottled water becoming effective from January 1, 2004, all food testing laboratories will also have to upgrade their testing facilities to meet European standards on bottled water and beverages. Laboratory officials are expecting a rise in their costs that can go up to crores or rupees. The 34 food testing laboratories under the ministry of science and technology and accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories will have to upgrade, according to The Statesman.

An article in The Telegraph reports on the cracks in the unity between the two soft drinks majors. The Delhi high court restrained Coca-Cola from airing its ad campaign featuring Salman Khan, saying they were intended to depict Pepsi as inferior. The court however refused to admit Pepsi’s plea that the use of an object similar to its logo in the Coca-Cola ad amounted to an infringement of the trademark and copyright law.

Coke and Pepsi officials were called by the West Bengal Environment Ministry, The Statesman reported. Environment minister Manab Mukherjee informed the chief minister that he was not satisfied by the responses of the companies on the presence of lead and cadmium in the sludge collected from a bottling plant at Diamond Harbour Road. The companies had been given 10 days time to clarify, but their reply was not satisfactory.

According to reports in The Financial Express, The Pioneer, The Assam Tribune, and The Times of India, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued a draft amendment notification of the Prevention of Food Adulteration rules of 1955, dated August 26, to regulate the presence of metals, and pesticides in beverages, fish and other food products. It proposes to extend the norms for pesticide residues in bottled water to all kinds of beverages including soft drinks. 30 days have been given for objections or suggestion before a confirmatory is issued.

Meanwhile, reports in The Tribune, The New Indian Express, The Hindu note that the Central Science Laboratory in Britain has found soft drinks safe for human consumption after testing two bottles each of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The lab said that out of the 35 pesticides tested, it did not find traces of 31 at or above the EU norms. The tests were commissioned by the newsmagazine Outlook, which picked up samples from the Safdarjung Enclave area of South Delhi. Coca-Coal India claimed that it had got a clean chit from the laboratory.

In another development, The Statesman reports that the green bench of the Kolkata high court heard two separate petitions for banning the sales of the soft drinks. One of the petitioners, Subhas Dutta said that the ingredients of these soft drinks namely caffeine, phosphorus, and excess sugar were hazardous and were not known to the consumers. The court has directed its office to issue notices to the respondents.

The Financial Express reports that the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare have decided to promulgate an ordinance to categorise water as a food item and fix enforceable safety standards for drinking water under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. The proposal will be put before the Union cabinet for approval. This will mean that all agencies responsible for providing drinking water will have to adhere to these norms. Health Minister Sushma Swaraj also said that the detailed reports of the test results of the 12 brands of soft drinks would be made public tomorrow.

Meanwhile in Rajasthan, a petitioner has challenged the test results of the samples tested by the State Central Public Health Laboratory, Jaipur, which shows no microbial contamination.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare seeks an "unconditional apology" from Pepsi, after the company used the Health minister Sushma Swaraj’s name in an advertisement claiming that the minister had given a clean to Pepsi. The advertisement had quoted the minister as saying "all these (soft drinks) are well within safety limits".

The Mumbai High Court sets aside an order by the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration prohibiting the sales and purchase of a batch of soft drinks from the Pune plant of Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, saying that the product confirmed to the standards set by the PFA Rules 1955. This order was issued after the court received the public analyst’s reports of seven samples of Coke, Limca, Thums Up and Sprite, which had pesticide residues below European standards.

A public interest litigation was filed suo moto in the Supreme Court (SC) today on behalf of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The SC issued notices to the Union ministries of Food and Civil Supplies, Health and Environment and Forests. The case will again come up for hearing after four weeks. The genesis of this PIL lay in a letter written by CSE Director, Sunita Narain on February 5, 2003 to key members of the judiciary informing them about the findings of the CSE Lab results on pesticide residues in bottled water that raised serious issues of groundwater and surface water contamination.

The letter was turned into a PIL by Justice Dharmadhikari, who was one of its recipients; the Union of India was made the respondent.

According to the Times of India, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar will head a 15-member joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to examine whether the recent CSE findings on pesticide residues in soft drinks are correct. The JPC will submit its report by the beginning of winter session.

Meanwhile, doctors and scientists came together at the Centre for Science and Environment office to discuss the impact on an overall pesticide policy in light 1of the government’s apparent ‘clean-chit’ to cola companies. Most agreed that that voluntary norms aren’t enough, and that there was a need to examine the basic structure of standards that at present do not exist in the country.

The Times of India reports that a day after Pepsi took out large advertisements in Delhi newspapers urging consumers to ‘Refresh your faith…. Now, refresh your thirst’, the Maharashtra food and drug administration served a notice on the company saying four samples collected from the Khalapur plant in Raigad district contained high levels of pesticide residues.

The Asian Age reports that the humble nimbu paani, or the more upmarket fresh lime soda and ice tea are replacing Coke and Pepsi brands across the country. The report says that outlets in the city have seen a drop in cola sales by more than 50 per cent ever since the CSE report on pesticides in soft drinks came out. Meanwhile, The Hindustan Times has reported Pepsi as having announced that it will use only bottled water for its Fountain Pepsi outlets in India.

According to another report in The Hindustan Times, the Food and Drug Administration, Maharashtra, has seemingly announced that some soft drinks, such as Thums Up and Limca, are clear of pesticides. On the other hand, The Asian Age has reported the Maharashtra government has having defended its decision to raid the Coca-Cola’s bottling plant at Pune, claiming the cola giant does not conduct routine tests for pesticide and insecticide residue.

Yet another day of tests and counter-tests. Lab tests conducted by the government of Kerala have apparently not found any traces of pesticides any Coke samples, but the Kerala government has refrained from issuing a clean chit to the multinational for the time being (Financial Express).

Meanwhile, The Asian Age reported that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) would like to apply European norms for pesticide content in bottled water and soft drinks from next year. However, it is up to the government to make these standards legally binding. The Pioneer, on the other hand, reported that BIS may buy time for things to cool down before deciding on whether soft drinks companies should be asked to adhere to stricter quality norms after the issue was discussed at a meeting on Monday.

In an article titled “Cleaning up at source”, Yoga Rangatia, writing for The Pioneer, hits the nail upon its head by saying that public discourse on the matter has unfortunately veered towards an anti-multinational stance instead of looking at the main issue, that of groundwater contamination.

BIS convenes a meeting to review the requirement for pesticide standards, and proposes the adoption of the EU norms on bottled water for India.

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