Soft Drinks even more toxic today, says CSE

New Delhi, Aug 2: Slamming the Government for its inaction over the issue of pesticide residue in soft drinks, the NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today came out with a fresh report damning the Cola companies and warning people against the dangers of guzzling the fizzy drinks.

Despite posing a danger to public health, the Government failed to ensure a regulatory framework even as the new report, prepared after a nation-wide survey, showed that the level of pesticide residue in soft drink samples was much higher than that reported by the CSE three years ago, CSE Director Sunita Narain and Associate Director Chandra Bhushan told a news conference.

''In 2003, the average level of pesticide residues in Delhi samples was 34 times above the same BIS standard... this time, shockingly, CSE has found pesticide residues as high as 52 times in bottles bought in Kolkata, and 42 times in bottles bought in Nainital and Gorakhpur. Similarly, bottles bought in Mumbai, manufactured in Thane and Nagpur, are 34 times above the BIS standard,'' Ms Narain said.

Though the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) had asked for standards for carbonated beverages and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had formulated them, the finalised standards had not been notified as yet, she pointed out.

''Three years after CSE released its findings on pesticide residues in soft drinks, a new nationwide study shows nothing much has changed: soft drinks remain unsafe and unhealthy. And public health remains severely compromised. Worse, even the directions given by the JPC have been disregarded: standards for safety have been finalised but blocked''.

In the new study, 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands, from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, spread over 12 states were tested. The CSE said it found pesticide residues in all samples.

A cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides were found in all samples - on an average 24 times higher than BIS norms, which have been finalised but not yet notified, Ms Narain said.

The levels in some samples - for instance, Coca-Cola bought in Kolkata -- exceeded the BIS standards by 140 times for the deadly pesticide Lindane. Similarly, a Coca-Cola sample manufactured in Thane contained the neurotoxin Chlorpyrifos, 200 times the standard. ''This is clearly unacceptable as we know that pesticides are tiny toxins and impact our bodies over time,'' the CSE Director said.

The current study was conducted by the same Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of the CSE, which had tested samples in 2003, but unlike last time, samples from all across the country were tested. Ms Narain said the laboratory was now accredited with ISO 9001:2000 quality management system and had used the state of art GS-MS equipment in the testing.

While accepting that people were also exposed to pesticide residues through food products such as milk and juice, she said such exposure had to be within an acceptable limit.

''The safe limit -- or the standard -- in each product is set keeping in mind the nutrition-pesticide trade-off -- a quota for residues can be allowed in nutritive food like milk or juice, but not in non-nutritive products like carbonated beverages''.

''This is a grave public health scandal,'' Ms Narain said. In early February 2004, confirming the unsafe levels of pesticides in soft drinks, the JPC had directed the government to set standards for these residues in the products.

''Since then, the BIS has, in its sectional committee, met over 20 times to deliberate on the standards. In October 2005, after months of data analysis and discussion with all stakeholders - including the two soft drink majors - the standards were finalised by the committee.

''In March 2006, the committee met once again to reconfirm the standards. But since then, the status remains the same: the standards are finalised but not notified''.

Ms Narain said the final standards were ironically being opposed by the union ministry of health and family welfare, which argues that more research needs to be done. ''The ministry has, in the last three years, set up committee after committee, and various sub-committees, to examine the safety concerns, but with little progress''.

Following are the findings of the fresh survey reported by the CSE today: -- A cocktail of 3-6 pesticides present in all soft drink samples tested.

-- Lindane (a confirmed carcinogen) levels were over 54 times above the BIS standard; in one Coca-Cola sample from Kolkata, it was 140 times higher.

-- Chlorpyrifos (a known neurotoxin) levels were 47 times higher; a Coca-Cola sample from Mumbai had a 200 times higher level.

-- Heptachlor, banned in India, was found in 71 per cent of the samples, at levels 4 times higher than BIS standards.

-- Average amount of pesticide residues found in all the samples was 11.85 parts per billion (ppb) - 24 times higher than the BIS standards for total pesticides in soft drinks (0.5 ppb).

-- Pepsi cola contained 30 times higher residues on an average.

-- Coca-Cola contained 27 times higher residues on an average.

UNI