Bush wants India to continue with poison cola.

[Guest guest]

hinducivilization, Jagannath Chatterjee

<jagchat01 wrote:

 

Bush administration pressures India to reinstate Coke, Pepsi sales

regardless of pesticide content

http://www.newstarget.com/020028.html

Bush administration pressures

India to reinstate Coke, Pepsi sales regardless of pesticide content

Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006 by NewsTarget, Key concepts: coke,

Pepsi and Bush administration.

Printable article Permalink:

http://www.NewsTarget.com/020028.html

 

(NewsTarget) -- Amitabh Pal, a writer for social justice publication

The Progressive, says the Bush administration is pressuring the

Indian

government to reinstate sales of Coke and Pepsi, which have been

restricted or banned in many Indian states for high pesticide

content.

A report recently released in India by the New Delhi-based Center

for

the Science and Environment warned that a number of potentially

harmful

pesticides were found in high levels in samples of Coke and

Pepsi. "The

levels [of pesticides] in some samples -- for instance, Coca-Cola

bought in Kolkata -- exceed the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards)

norms by

140 times for the deadly pesticide Lindane," the report

says. "Similarly,

a Coca-Cola sample manufactured in Thane contained the neurotoxin

Chlorpyrifos, 200 times the standard."

Pal claims that public outcry over the government's initial report

and

a later report that galvanized the findings of the first caused many

Indian states to ban Coke and Pepsi from government schools,

colleges and

hospitals. The state of Kerala has completely banned the sodas, Pal

says.

Franklin Lavin, the U.S. Undersecretary for International Trade,

told

Agence France-Presse, "In a time when India is working hard to

attract

and retain foreign investment, it would be unfortunate if the

discussion

were dominated by those who did not want to treat foreign companies

fairly."

"This is commercial bullying by corrupt U.S. government officials

who

are conniving to protect powerful corporations at the expense of the

health of Indian citizens," said Mike Adams, a consumer health

advocate

and author of The Five Soft Drink Monsters, a guide that teaches

readers

how to beat soft drink addictions to improve their health and avoid

obesity and diabetes.

"That the Bush Administration would insist India must keep selling

pesticide-laden beverages to its population is despicable," he

added. "It

just demonstrates that when business interests collide with public

health, the business interests always win. Doesn't India have the

right to

protect its people from products that its own scientists have found

contain cancer-causing chemicals?"

Both Coke and Pepsi have denied high pesticide content in their

drinks.

The Indian Supreme Court has given the soda manufacturers four weeks

to

respond to the charges and to disclose the "exact amount of harmful

contents in each bottle."

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