Killing me softly with his coke
Sutirtho
Patranobis:
Poison in your soft drink,
study says
Twelve popular soft-drink brands have been found to contain dangerously
high levels of pesticides and insecticides. Delhi-based NGO Centre for
Science and Environment (CSE) tested brands of market leaders Coca-Cola
and PepsiCo. It found that Coke contained 30 times and Pepsi 36 times the
amount of pesticides considered acceptable by the European Economic
Commission (EEC). The NGO also tested one bottle each of Coke and Pepsi
bought in the US. They were both free of pesticide residue. Coca-Cola and
PepsiCo have threatened legal action against the NGO. At a press
conference on Tuesday, their officials said the allegations should be
disregarded. They said the CSE did not have the expertise to conduct such
sophisticated tests.
Coke now accused of causing women to abort
Viju B Plachimada
(Kerala), August 8
Coca Cola Company, under attack for containing pesticides in its bottled
drinks, has more problems in its hand. It is now accused of contributing
to the production of 'poisoned fruits' and thereby causing a lot of
miscarriages among pregnant women in a Kerala village.
According to Kerala's Perumadi panchayat president A Krishnan, the company
has not been disposing off its toxic wastes properly. "Instead they
are selling it off as manure to our farmers!" "The Kerala
Pollution Control Board has confirmed that the wastes have cadmium and
lead content well above the permissible limit. This can cause cancer,
kidney failure and delivery problems among women if it enters into the
food chain," says Green Peace activist Ameer Shahul.
The company has already disposed off 5000 tons of toxic waste as manure to
farmers in the area. "Already we foresee a major health problem. We
have information that there were seven spontaneous abortion cases in the
past one year alone in the area. A state health team is shortly visiting
the tribals to make a detailed study," adds Shahul.
Krishnan is also outraged by the fact that while the panchayat gave the
plant permission to dig only one borewell, the company went ahead and dug
six.
"So even water in Plachimada has become scarce," Krishnan said.
The 250 odd bore wells in the 15 kilometer radius area have become almost
dry and what is more terrifying is that many of them have turned brackish
and putrid, and so unfit for drinking. However, Coke officials deny these
allegations. "The technology of our waste water treatment is the best
in the world. The investigations by the Kerala Pollution Control Board and
the Kerala State Ground Water Department (KSGD) have given us a clean
chit," a Coke spokesperson said
Pepsi, Coca Cola now accused of causing cancer
Press Trust of India
Kolkata, August 8
Fresh on the heels of charges that its soft drinks contain high levels of
pesticides, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are now being accused of causing cancer,
miscarriages and kidney failure in Kerala and West Bengal.
The West Bengal Government on Friday said its Pollution Control Board
(PCB) has found high levels of toxic metals in waste released from
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo plants.
The announcement comes two days after the Kerala Pollution Control Board
made a similar claim regarding Coca-Cola's Plachimada plant.
The West Bengal PCB, which collected sludge from six Coca-Cola and Pepsi
Cola bottling plants in the state for testing, discovered that cadmium
levels in the effluent of at least two of the plants at Taratala in
Kolkata, and one in Dankuni in Hoogly district, were above the hazardous
level of 50 mg per kg, West Bengal's Environment Minister Manab Mukherjee
said.
Mukherjee said that the PCB has also found lead, another toxic metal,
above permissible limits in the liquid effluents of Coca-Cola's Dankuni
plant. The West Bengal government, he said, has asked both the MNCs to
explain the process of production which led to sludge containing a high
level of cadmium. The development took place barely two days after a
country-wide panic following detection of pesticides by the Centre for
Science and Environment (CSE) in at least 12 soft drink brands produced by
these MNCs. Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court today addmitted a public
interest litigation by an environemntalits praying for direction to ban
all soft drink brands in which pesticides were found in CSE tests.
Petitioner Subhas Dutta in his submission before the division bench of
Chief Justice A K Mathur and Justice Asim Banerjee stated that since the
supply of these soft drinks in Parliament premises had been discontinued,
by the same logic these should be banned for the general public. The
Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which collected samples from the bottling
plants of the two cola majors, threatened that it would cancel the trade
licences of soft drinks companies if tests on samples confirmed the
presence of pesticide.
"We are awaiting the report of the tests before deciding on
cancelling trade licences," city Mayor Subrata Mukerhee said while
admitting that the civic body had no authority to shut down the plants of
MNCs.
The sale of the two leading cola brands had substantially dropped in the
metropolis over the last two days, according to Mayor in-Council (Health)
Pradip Ghosh.
"There has been panic after the study by CSE found pesticides in soft
drinks," Ghosh said. He also announced that the municipal body would
collect samples of non-cola drinks and mineral water sold in the
metropolis to determine whether they contained any hazardous substance.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which collected samples from the
bottling plants of the two cola majors, threatened that it would cancel
the trade licences of soft drinks companies if tests on samples confirmed
the presence of pesticide.
"We are awaiting the report of the tests before deciding on
cancelling trade licences," city Mayor Subrata Mukerhee said while
admitting that the civic body had no authority to shut down the plants of
MNCs.
The sale of the two leading cola brands had substantially dropped in the
metropolis over the last two days, according to Mayor in-Council (Health)
Pradip Ghosh.
"There has been panic after the study by CSE found pesticides in soft
drinks," Ghosh said. He also announced that the municipal body would
collect samples of non-cola drinks and mineral water sold in the
metropolis to determine whether they contained any hazardous substance.
Coca Cola Company, under attack for containing pesticides in its bottled
drinks, has more problems in its hand. It is now accused of contributing
to the production of 'poisoned fruits' and thereby causing a lot of
miscarriages among pregnant women in a Kerala village. According to
Kerala's Perumadi panchayat president A Krishnan, the company has not been
disposing off its toxic wastes properly. "Instead they are selling it
off as manure to our farmers!" "The Kerala Pollution Control
Board has confirmed that the wastes have cadmium and lead content well
above the permissible limit. This can cause cancer, kidney failure and
delivery problems among women if it enters into the food chain," says
Green Peace activist Ameer Shahul. The company has already disposed off
5000 tons of toxic waste as manure to farmers in the area. "Already
we foresee a major health problem. We have information that there were
seven spontaneous abortion cases in the past one year alone in the area. A
state health team is shortly visiting the tribals to make a detailed
study," adds Shahul.
Krishnan is also outraged by the fact that while the panchayat gave the
plant permission to dig only one borewell, the company went ahead and dug
six.
"So even water in Plachimada has become scarce," Krishnan said.
The 250 odd bore wells in the 15 kilometer radius area have become almost
dry and what is more terrifying is that many of them have turned brackish
and putrid, and so unfit for drinking. However, Coke officials deny these
allegations. "The technology of our waste water treatment is the best
in the world. The investigations by the Kerala Pollution Control Board and
the Kerala State Ground Water Department (KSGD) have given us a clean
chit," a Coke spokesperson said.
Tina Susman:
Afraid to Keep It,
Afraid to Burn It
Alabama Town Wary as Army Begins Destroying Weapons Stockpile
She never knows when the seizures will come. Perhaps in mid-sentence, as
she is describing the warm, windy morning eight years ago when the first
one struck, turning her lively face into a twisted, frozen mask. Perhaps
as she talks about the toxic vapors that were leaking from the nearby Army
depot that morning, vapors she's convinced caused the mysterious ailment.
Perhaps if a whiff of something triggers a reaction to whatever haunts her
system. All Arametta Porter knows is that the seizures will come and that
several times a day a tingling sensation will creep across her face, like
worms crawling under the skin. Then the left side of her mouth will be
stretched back to her ear. Her eyes will squeeze shut, and odd chirping
sounds will come from her distorted lips. It will last anywhere from a few
seconds to a few hours. Like many in this eastern Alabama town, Porter, a
55-year-old retired biology teacher, lived for decades within a few miles
of the Army depot, unaware it housed 2,254 tons of rockets, mines and
other weapons loaded with deadly nerve agents like GB and VX and
blistering mustard. Like many here, she wasn't too worried when the
weapons' existence became common knowledge after the Cold War. After all,
she reasoned, they had been stashed there since the 1960s without a
problem.
From Common Dreams
taken from www.davidicke.com
Thanks