Aired Today, All soft drinks have been tested positive to contain pesticides. It was as high as 70 times the permitted values (god knows how much of it is permitted) This includes Coke/Pepsi/Fanta etc. Simultaneous tests were done on Coke from California and was having 0%. Lowest was tested in Sprite (which i believe is Coke product)

So does it mean that they are purposefully mixing these toxic substances so that "Slow Poisoning" followed by drugs/medication (with all those hue and cry about IP rights/Patenting etc) would earn more $$$. Or is this a new form of "Terrorism" -- Corporate Terrorism --- or a way to spit vengance on India for not agreeing to send troops to Iraq.?

Intellectuals wake up and exhibit your non partisan instincts.

I know most of you would dub this as crap (as long as it does not affect US and it's allies).

Anup

I could be wrong, but most (if not all) softdrinks sold outside the US are made/bottled in the country they are sold....or at least regionally. It's too expensive to ship a can of Coke than make it locally. That's how it was when I lived in Germany. In fact, bottling companies are usually franchises, such that they are owned & operated independently from the parent company....they just pay royalty fees and get formulas & logos.

I would bet money, that it's Indian quality control that's to blame, not some International-conspiracy-led-by-white-guys-deliberately-trying-to-hurt-non-white-guys (isn't this what all James Bond villians are now?).

Dave

If it is happening across the board (pepsi/coke/fanta etc etc ) all ranging from 11 to 70 times the permitted value, then theoretically conspiracy_cannot_be_ruled_out. If it was only with a particular brand or something then i wouldn't have made a mention of some "broader conspiracy'

All franchisees are appointed under some agreement I suppose. I hope that somewhere in the agreement there is a mention of some sort of social obligation of not causing damage to innocent citizens. And that check has to be put into practise by the parent company equally. Don't tell me that these soft drink giants tie up with rogues and have no check on what they do? Or is it that these Indian Franchisees (rogue if they are ... are playing hand in glove with the parent company).

Partial denials have started coming out on Murdoch's channel (Coke has come out with a denial) and not on the channel where it was aired.

Anup

Sure, they have some type of QC agreement...it's the brand name they are buying...and this hurts all Coke/Pepsi/etc. affiliates involved. I'm sure they even inspect periodically, at least at startup.

I beg to differ, in that being across all brands, it's more likely a local issue, not a conspiracy. Using 'unclean' or unpurified water is probably a shortcut by the local Indian managers, trying to save some money...and yes, that's generally at the expense of their customers.

Apparently, the Indian gov't isn't as concerned either or the companies would be scared to do such a thing....

Dave

Hmm As A QC man would always put it .... "It's not our fault" everything is perfect .... the logsheets/ process sheets/ production planning are in place .... much in line with ISO certification etc etc.

If my little knowledge serves me right, a bottling plant (basically that's what they are) must be having a water purification system in place besides the gasification etc....

And BTW, what's going around is Coke/Pepsi/etc etc is contaminated with toxic substances and not that xyz franchisee's production is contaminated. Just as u said, it's the brand and not franchisees name which is getting the beating.

I don't think Indian managers are so uncaring for their own civilization. Unless it is that "Save Money" mantra is coming from the parent company......

As for Government, well in democracy every government fears being voted out of power. So they would not act callously in matters which can be fatal for their existence.

Anup

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=114761

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=115007

Perhaps the scariest thing is that the levels of contaminates are said to be legal in India.

Hi,

It all depends. Chlorinated (for disinfection) water cannot be said to be contaminated. Now the levels are deicded on the basis of certain factors. Taking excuse that contamination levels (which are permitted) are legally permitted as a cover for offering 70 times the permitted value, then it would be most unfortunate on part of the customers. Somewhere on one of the forums i did mention that I do not consume pepsi/coke etc for certain obvious reasons but now it would be easier convincing my son ( a 10 year old kid) coz he just drained the bottle in sink when he saw the news clipping.

Being legally permitted is one thing and surpassing the legally permitted values by 70 times is another. Sprite had the lowest levels of overshoot (11 times).

Anup

If broad guidelines (not law) are openly flouted by MNC's then that does not mean that "feeding toxicants is legally permitted". And it is ridiculous that Coke/Pepsi claims that they have their testing in proper place and are challenging the testing methods. They never challenged the methods when Bisellary (excuse me if misspelt as I do not consume that) was given a painfull KITA (which had caused suspension of their operations for quite a while) as that probably made Kinley (Coke Mineral Water or something) gain some ground perhaps. Huh.... testing once in a quarter with one sample (out of million bottles already dumped in market) sent to Holland. So that means they have their burried under the sand for 89/90 days presuming that everything is fine....just like an Ostrich.

With this exposed, I am sure there would be a LAW framed for curbing consequential damages to innocent civilians as a result of wilfull flouting of guidelines (and not law) by certain $$$ hungry operators. Afterall there are millions who are suffering even today due to UCC attempt of saving a 50$/day by closing the chilling plant which lead to that disastrous gas leak.

You should probably work on solving all the slave labour in India before worrying about western companies.

Oh so the Coke Plant in Kerala which is now deemed a threat to environment because the it is speweing out sludge with 200mg/KG cadmium is related to labour problem. "Labour problem" as defined in western media is a problem because it does not give enough liberty to "Hire N Fire" policies of MNC's

What it seems from your post is that you have concluded that Coke/Pepsi (sale now banned wef in Parliament campus .... and more to follow soon) fiasco is related to "Labour Problem"

Somehow, i fail to see a correlation....

Anup

I think he was refering to larger problems, like slave labour.

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

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Bringing to fore the problem of how MNC's have been clandestinely "Poisoning" selected civilizations is a larger problem than what he must be referring to as a "Larger Problem" based on some MNC funded reports who would want labour laws, environmental laws combined into trade policies.

Onto "Slave Labour" a disease spread by erstwhile British Empire would take enormous time to be weeded out. More so because it is always thru such Coke/Bisselary etc fiascos that priorities have to be reorganised. At least slavery is better than consciously (though clandestinely ... tilll caught) poisoning selectively the human civilization.

I am sorry but it seems that Paul wants every thread to divert to Western Vs Anti Western Duel. At least iam sure that my source of information is more trustworthy going by my experience in similar discussions in few other threads.

Anup


=_= =_= =_= =_= =_= =_=


You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
-Mahatma Gandhi

lol now that's ironic coming from you =)

Go get a glass of coke and relax.

I think i had commented few months back in one of the threads that i do not consume coke /pepsi etc. I do repeat it here again. Really i do not fancy the chances of being addicted to such stuff. And this episode only strengthens my conviction of staying away from such cocktails...

Anup

You can't really get addicted to pepsi - it's only really water, sugar and flavorings...nothing addictive in it

You've got more chance of damanging your health eating from a street stall in India than you have consuming health regulated soft drinks.

If you really wanted to selectively poison entire civilizations, isn't there a better way to accomplish this task than by putting heavy metals, like cadium, in carbonated soft drinks? If you believe there is such a plot, wouldn't the co-conspirators select a product more universally used in India than Coca Cola? Maybe someone should test something the entire population eats every day and for more effective, but difficult to detect poisions or hallucinigens?

Isn't it more likely that cadium in Coke is simply a diversion to distract you from what is really happening?
--
Rob

SW Montana's Online Community
Modular Model Railroading

Anup is a conspiracy theory generating machine

If you ever need to think up a reason to blame something on the west then anup can always oblige with a bizarre theory or falsified information.

I expect he thinks the US goverment assassinated Elvis.

You can. It contains addictive drugs such as caffeine.

- wil

Not caffeine free pepsi

http://www.pepsi.com/...amp;page=ingredients

Now Rob, you know that the multinationals have an India problem. What better way to increase profits than by killing off a developing market? They hate new customers so much that they have to poison them.

It's a brilliant plan, made more so by using the runoff from local pesticide use! In fact I shudder to think of what sorts of pesticides are still being used on the sub continent. Surely the locally owned bottling plant owners and managers realized this and saw a golden opportunity to rid themselves of a customer base.

But not to worry, the multinationals are having much better success with the AIDS program. Numbers in India show a whopping improvement, infection rates up something like 15% this last year. Surely they are sitting around the boardroom slapping each other on the back.

....and all joking aside, it's a terrible situation that needs addressing. Just as long as no evil western governments send aid money or their big multinational companies attempt to help out with cut rate drug therapies or anything useful like that.

I agree. However, if certain beverages are found to contain elevated levels of pesticides (something I'm very familiar with from postgrad course work in environmental toxicology), then this cannot be dismissed outright because of other health concerns or labour standards (often exploited by Western nations and multinational companies - difficult to remedy when there is a huge multibillion dollar demand for them). And just because India has poorer water quality standards and limited supply of safe drinking water, does not give the right of any company to exploit that at the expense of public health. For example, say India had no pesticide standards, would that give Coke the right (if not legal, then ethical) to allow pesticides at levels 10,000 or 100,000 (mind you, at these levels, Coke would pour out as sludge) than allowed in the the US or the EU, even though such levels would compromise public health and cause death. Also, numerous clinical studies have attributed clinical addiction to aspartame, caffeine and some other components in soda pop beverages. Pop is not just water, sugar, and flavourings. Never was - check into the history of cola drinks as very enlightening. What needs to be done is for more testing, and for the Indian government to act on the results. Ultimately it is up to India. However, if true, then the beverage companies should make the required changes. There's legalality, and there's ethics. I see no conspiracy against Indian consumers. However, if true, then I do see corporate irresponsibility.

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Cheers,

Dan
Founder and CEO

LionsGate Creative
GoodPassRobot
Magelln

I'm aware of what was contained in Coke...that's where the name supposedly came from

If you consume everything in moderation it should not be an issue.

For example, pure drinking water can poison you if you drink too much.

Right. I was just thinking it would be much more effective to put the chemicals in something like bread, that everyone in India eats everyday. Shouldn't be putting in just poisons either, but something addictive like nictotene, opium or cocaine to ensure an adequate dosage is consumed over a long term. Then throw in some sort of chemical that does ????? and whose effects can be masked by the increasing industrial pollutants and you have something. My point to anup123 was that the cadium Cokes are simply diverting time and energy from the real dangers. Nobody thinks to test bread for opium, cocaine or nicotine. He needs to dig deeper. The truth is out there!!
--
Rob

SW Montana's Online Community
Modular Model Railroading

Conspiracy theory which fortunately does not fall like a pack of cards as it does in case of CIA.... etc etc....

Anup

It's something like beefing up the lamb before slaughtering. View this from the drugs point of view and it would become less aberrated. Ultimately it is the durugs market.

While on AID (not AIDS) it seems that you are trying to justify all this misdeeds by showing off the pseudo philanthropist attitudes. I think u have to start arguing much beyond the same old line of thought and reasoning. AS long as u form opinion sitting in your living room and substantiating your claims based on some funded media reports these aberrations would continue unabated.

As on AIDS/ Pornography et al, i think www would reveal a bunch of horrendous developments in your country /countries that you ardently defend. There are numerous such material available and i do not have to post links to that when the parliamenterians of such countries are discusiing the spread of this disease (ref house of lords sessions).

Anup