Why are colas bad boys?

Team DNA

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Sorry for spoiling your Sunday. Here’s some more pesticide news, courtesy Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

If you thought pesticolas were a health hazard, keep an eye on your glass of milk too. While you are at it, keep the other eye on that bottle of water.

Pawar went on record on Saturday to say that several studies have confirmed the presence of pesticide residues in milk, fruits, food products and honey. The minister’s admission of an open secret raises three questions:

Why are colas being portrayed as the only bad boys if pesticide residues have been found in a variety of food products?

Why is the government not acting decisively if the residues are harmful to health?

Are the tests conducted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on colas reliable?

A study by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI)  has found that close to 65 per cent of the milk samples were contaminated with pesticides.

The 2001 study analysed 468 milk samples from 16 centres, including Anand, Bangalore, Hisar, Hyderabad and Delhi.

The study found that more than 40 per cent of the samples were contaminated with Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane, or DDT, which was banned for agricultural use in India in 1989. 

15 per cent of the samples exceeded the MRL for Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), another commonly used pesticide. IARI’s 2001 study is one of the more prominent ones that have discovered alarming levels of pesticide in food products.

AR Shenoy, Chairperson of the Consumer Guidance Society of India, told DNA: “The colas are being targeted because they are made by MNCs. But what about the drinking water we get in our taps? Two of the most lethal pesticides — arsenic and fluoride —have been found in several drinking water samples.”

But Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), whose report on contaminated colas has triggered the latest round of war of words, has a different take on the issue. She says such questions are raised in order to take away the attention from the wrongdoings of the cola giants.

“The fact is there are only two soft drink manufacturers in the country. They control more than 99 per cent of the market. We are not after companies, we are after soft drinks. The gall of these companies that they continue to tell us that they are safe,” she says.

On Pawar’s admission that pesticide residues have been found in other food products also, she says: “If there are pesticides in fruits or milk, it does not mean they should be everywhere. They should reduce them in milk and fruits and eliminate them elsewhere.”

A point which Dr Anoop Misra, Director, Department of Diabetes and Metabolism, Fortis Group of Hospitals, Delhi emphasises. “It is clear that there should be no pesticides in any food products.

The long term effects of these on humans - on bone marrow, kidneys and other organs - would be irreversible. In the US the regulations are clear. If any residue is found in more than 2-5 per cent samples, that item is not allowed,” he says.

More alarmingly, eight per cent of the samples exceeded the Maximum Residual Limit (MRL) for DDT.

15 per cent of the samples exceeded the MRL for Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), another commonly used pesticide. IARI’s 2001 study is one of the more prominent ones that have discovered alarming levels of pesticide in food products.

AR Shenoy, Chairperson of the Consumer Guidance Society of India, told DNA: “The colas are being targeted because they are made by MNCs. But what about the drinking water we get in our taps? Two of the most lethal pesticides — arsenic and fluoride —have been found in several drinking water samples.”

But Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), whose report on contaminated colas has triggered the latest round of war of words, has a different take on the issue. She says such questions are raised in order to take away the attention from the wrongdoings of the cola giants.

“The fact is there are only two soft drink manufacturers in the country.

They control more than 99 per cent of the market. We are not after companies, we are after soft drinks. The gall of these companies that they continue to tell us that they are safe,” she says.

On Pawar’s admission that pesticide residues have been found in other food products also, she says: “If there are pesticides in fruits or milk, it does not mean they should be everywhere. They should reduce them in milk and fruits and eliminate them elsewhere.”

A point which Dr Anoop Misra, Director, Department of Diabetes and Metabolism, Fortis Group of Hospitals, Delhi emphasises.

“It is clear that there should be no pesticides in any food products. The long term effects of these on humans - on bone marrow, kidneys and other organs - would be irreversible. In the US the regulations are clear. If any residue is found in more than 2-5 per cent samples, that item is not allowed,” he says.