Health Minister A Ramadoss said results from Gujarat and Mysore labs revealed that the pesticide residues were not above permissible level.
NEW DELHI: An expert committee constituted by the Union health ministry has examined and debunked the report of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on pesticide residues in colas.
"The report of the CSE does not provide conclusive evidence for presence of different pesticides in the concentration reported," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told the Lok Sabha.
He said the ministry has sought details from the CSE in view of the inconsistencies found in its report.
But CSE director Sunita Narain lashed out at the ministry. "It is very unfortunate that the minister has decided to toe the company line," she said. She said the influence of cola companies was so obvious in the experts' report that the exoneration "bordered on shamelessness".
For its part, Coca-Cola, one of the soft drink majors embroiled in the controversy, issued a statement reiterating its confidence in the safety of its products. "The decision of the Government of India to establish science-based norms for soft drinks will help in establishing to consumers the safety of our products," the statement read.
Meanwhile, the health ministry directed state and central laboratories to test samples of carbonated drinks. During his presentation of the expert committee report, Anbumani told Lok Sabha that results from Gujarat and Mysore laboratories on two samples of water and carbonated drinks had revealed that pesticide residues were not above permissible levels.
The minister had constituted the committee, headed by Dr D Kanungo, on August 4, within days of the CSE report, to examine "the methodology of sampling, methodology of testing, and validity as well as consistency of results".
The committee said the CSE's sampling methodology lacked scientific and statistically valid basis. "A balanced approach has not been followed by CSE while undertaking the scientific review," it said.
The committee noted that it was unlikely that the residue of a pesticide such as Malathion, found by the CSE tests in colas, could exist in such concentrations in the acidic medium of soft drinks. It also said Heptachlor has been banned since 1996, and so its presence in such concentration was unlikely.
The committee said various findings in the CSE's 'conclusions' were not "correctly inferred".
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