NationStates Jolt Archive

http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14262729&headline=Coke,~Pepsi~contain~pesticides:~Study
Coke, Pepsi still pesticide cocktails
Wednesday, 02 August , 2006, 17:57

The Centre for Science and Environment on Wednesday came out with a fresh study claiming the presence of 'pesticide cocktail' in 11 brands of soft drink giants Coca Cola and PepsiCo, three years after the same brands were found to have contained pesticides.

The new findings, publicised after testing 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands of Coca Cola and PepsiCo collected from 25 manufacturing units across 12 states, claims that all the bottles examined were a "cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides", which was 24 times above the standards finalised by Bureau of Indian Standards.

"We have found pesticide residue in all soft drinks tested. Three years ago, when the tests were conducted we could spot only four pesticides. This time it has increased to five in some cases," CSE Director Sunita Narain said.

How does this stuff get through the more stringent requirements in the west or is it that they make it differently in different countries ?

Anyways, I am glad that I gave up soda for good long back.

what am I going to mix drinks with now :mad:

but I guess its one of those accidents at the plant or something like the Cadbury’s that cause salmonella

Meh.

I love my coke.

Hmm. I've been thinking I should probably stop drinking Coke. It's hard though :(

Luckily for us, we aren't commonly defined as pests.

Soft drinks like Pepsi and Coke are usually bottled locally.

yeah I am glad I gave up soda years ago

There was actually a noticable improvement in my health soon after I gav eit up. Maybe this is the reason why. *shrug*

It doesn't matter. At all. I drink so much of Pepsi that if it were lethal, I'd be dead by now. People who use this as an excuse to give up drinking it are morons.

It doesn't matter. At all. I drink so much of Pepsi that if it were lethal, I'd be dead by now. People who use this as an excuse to give up drinking it are morons.

Okay, try this:

Don't drink Pepsi: Look what happened to Michael Jackson.

How does this stuff get through the more stringent requirements in the west or is it that they make it differently in different countries ?


Why do you think the standards are stricter in the west?

The Pepsi contained almost 12 ppb of stray pesticide molecules of all sorts. The CSE on their site stated that this was 24 times the amount allowed in Indian softdrinks. Which means that the allowable limit for total contained pesticides in Pepsi is <2 parts per billion. That is a pretty strict standard to meet, test for and enforce actually.

It'll be local water. A lot of aquifers in the US are contaminated with pesticide and shit. I can easily imagine that some bottling plants have their own water supply (because it's cheaper), and aren't pre-treating it properly.

56 samples is hardly significant in a statistical sense.

that sounds like a reasonable conclusion - does that 7 stage reverse osmosis get rid of pesticides?

56 samples is hardly significant in a statistical sense.

56 samples collected from bottling plants across the country and every single sample contained pesticides... coincidence? surely you jest.

Why do you think the standards are stricter in the west?

The Pepsi contained almost 12 ppb of stray pesticide molecules of all sorts. The CSE on their site stated that this was 24 times the amount allowed in Indian softdrinks. Which means that the allowable limit for total contained pesticides in Pepsi is <2 parts per billion. That is a pretty strict standard to meet, test for and enforce actually.

Upon futher review India became the 1st to set standards for this. They picked their standards by testing what was in EU colas and adopting those unregulated normes as maximum permissible limits.

The pesticides are coming from the local water where the colas are bottled and not from something added by Coke or Pepsi. Apparantly the main thrust behind this is to position multinational conglomerates into having to address an agricultarally driven water problem.

Meh.

I love my coke.

<snort>

Me too.

Soft drinks like Pepsi and Coke are usually bottled locally.

True.

You might want to consider where the water for the bottling comes from (usually a local source).

I went like 3 weeks without my daily soda and last night I bought a can, and this morning I took a drink of it and YUCK

it tastes bitter and acidy and yucky.....

I think this is the begining of my soda free life. Did it always taste that bad? maybe I just got used to it? gross.

I gave the rest of it to my husband...... am I a bad wife?

I went like 3 weeks without my daily soda and last night I bought a can, and this morning I took a drink of it and YUCK

it tastes bitter and acidy and yucky.....

I think this is the begining of my soda free life. Did it always taste that bad? maybe I just got used to it? gross.

I gave the rest of it to my husband...... am I a bad wife?

yes

why dont you just feed him rat poison to finish him off :(

j/k - I know what you mean about how gross soda is - except for Squirt! mmmm Squirt :p :D

Coke and Pepsi are made locally per country. Shipping the syrup would be horrendously expensive.

actually I looked into the seven stage reverse osmosis and it does indeed remove pesticides so what is up with these soda companies? Coke and Pepsi both make a fortune off of bottled water... why dont they use the technology they already employ to purify their water before making their soda product? I think that they should at least be forced to put a warning on the container that their are pesticides in their products if they can't be asked to use suitable water.

That's why the grass does better when I pee on it!

yeah I am glad I gave up soda years ago

There was actually a noticable improvement in my health soon after I gav eit up. Maybe this is the reason why. *shrug*
I barely touched the stuff until I moved to Hong Kong. Then I noticed they still sell them in proper green glass bottles and drink it pretty regularly.
There is a definite (and superior) taste difference between plastic bottle (or can) and glass bottle.

The pesticides are coming from the local water where the colas are bottled and not from something added by Coke or Pepsi.

That could be true. There was a definite taste difference between bottled pepsi/coke and fountain pepsi/coke when I used to drink them.

But still, are they not supposed to purify the water to be used in bottling? I dunno if pepsi/coke owns the bottling plant or just gives operating licenses to third parties. In any case, does this absolve their responsibility of ensuring a clean product sold in their name ?

That could be true. There was a definite taste difference between bottled pepsi/coke and fountain pepsi/coke when I used to drink them.

A coke manager once explained this to me. That's because in the fountain the syrup and carbonated water are in separate containers until served. Or something like that it was.

http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14262729&headline=Coke,~Pepsi~contain~pesticides:~Study


How does this stuff get through the more stringent requirements in the west or is it that they make it differently in different countries ?

Anyways, I am glad that I gave up soda for good long back.

Don't drink the foreign Coca Cola at the Epcott Center.

I just skimmed the preceding posts, but there was a little to-do over the trade agreement allowing Coca-Cola to market in India, because the Indian government demanded the formula for Coke. That, as you know, is given out only on a need-to-know basis and the last person who needed to know died years ago. Anyway, they worked it out, but perhaps the Indians are also trying to reverse-engineer the soft drink, and these results come from that. Or, like NB said, the local water.

Luckily for us, we aren't commonly defined as pests.

Due to a sorting error. :p

I don't drink soda very often, and when I do, it's always Dr. Pepper, so there.

Why do you think the standards are stricter in the west?

The Pepsi contained almost 12 ppb of stray pesticide molecules of all sorts. The CSE on their site stated that this was 24 times the amount allowed in Indian softdrinks. Which means that the allowable limit for total contained pesticides in Pepsi is <2 parts per billion. That is a pretty strict standard to meet, test for and enforce actually.

Jesus christ! You show me ANYTHING that has less than 2 parts per billion of ANYTHING!

I'm sure I have more than 2 parts per billion of raccoon butt in me! :p

Well at least I don't have any pests inside me...

update. One southern Indian state (ruled by communists) has banned cola and looks like more are to follow.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1879271.cms?headline=Kerala~cans~Coca-Cola,~Pepsi
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twenty-nine years after George Fernandes bundled out IBM and Cola-Cola from India to emerge as the country’s top MNC-slayer, Kerala's Marxist CM V S Achuthanandan on Wednesday sought to grab the mantle from him by serving marching orders on cola giants Coke and Pepsi.

Emerging from a cabinet meeting of the state’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, Achuthanandan said neither Coke nor Pepsi can manufacture or sell their products in Kerala. Their licences are being scrapped as well. Although LDF has been fighting the cola majors for over-extraction of groundwater at their bottling plants in Palakkad, Wednesday’s step has been triggered by the Centre for Science and Environment’s campaign against alleged pesticide residues in Coke and Pepsi.

It was, indeed, a black Wednesday for the cola companies. Apart from Kerala, the Karnataka government too banned the sale of all aerated drinks, including Coke and Pepsi, from schools, colleges and government hospitals. Orissa, too, is thinking of pulling the plug on them in schools and colleges. Aerated drinks have already been banned from schools in Rajasthan and MP. Gujarat has disallowed colas in government offices. (Besides, many schools and colleges across the country, including in the metros, have on their own said no to sale of aerated drinks on campus.)

But none of these states have yet gone as far as Kerala to throw out the cola biggies lock, stock and barrel.
Achuthanandan said: "Recent studies have shown that aerated soft drinks (Coke and Pepsi) contain pesticide residues that are harmful to humans and the government has decided to ban the sale and production of the soft drinks in the state."

Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi said their drinks were perfectly safe, while company sources hinted they have "no choice but to take legal recourse as there is no basis for such a ban".

Interestingly, Kerala has turfed out only Coke and Pepsi. Asked if only products of these two were being banned, the CM replied in the affirmative and added more studies would be conducted to see if similar action should be taken against others.

I still <3 coke. I dont care what is in it. It is damned tasty and refreshing.