Soft drinks giants in for a tough time

Kolkata, Aug 3 (UNI) Samajwadi Party members in West Bengal today held demonstrations and burnt Coke and Pepsi bottles protesting against the high level of pesticide in them.

Samajwadi Party's state unit president Vijay Upadhay said, ''These multinational soft drinks giants are selling poison to people who are being fooled.'' Three years ago an NGO, Centre for Science and Environment(CSE), had detected pesticides in the soft drinks. ''Now it seems that the soft drinks we have been cosuming these three years might-have contained higher levels of pesticide,'' he added.

The pesticide level was higher by 52 times in bottles bought to Kolkata.

The soft drinks giants are in for a tough time in West Bengal as the Left Front is known for its stance against Multi National Companies.

CSE director Sunita Narain had yesterday talked about the high level of pesticides and criticised the government for failing to contain the harmful residues in the drinks.

The report was based on 57 samples obtained from 12 cities.

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