Hearing on soft drink ban adjourned by a month

New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) The Supreme Court today adjourned by a month the hearing on a PIL seeking ban on the manufacture and sale of carbonated soft drinks on the grounds that they contain chemicals and pesticides that are injurious to health.

A bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Talveer Bhandari adjourned the hearing after Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in its letter to counsel for Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Prashant Bhushan said that mentioning the levels of contaminants on the soft drink bottles is not the international practice nor has it been prescribed by the codex.

The counsel for the petitioners sought time from the Court to respond to the letter dated July 9, 2007.

The letter also said regarding suggestion for keeping a check and banning misleading advertisements by soft drink manufacturers, there is a provision under the prevention of Food Adulteration rules for checking misleading advertisements.

The prevention of Food Adulteration rules, 1955, rule 43(A) has been provided for prohibiting misleading advertisements and the inter-ministerial group, under the chairmanship of the Directorate General of Health Services, is already considering what constitutes misleading advertisements.

UNI