Several citizens' groups including environmentalists and parliamentarians on Wednesday joined hands and called for a ban on soft drinks manufactured by MNCs Pepsi and Coke, which have been given a clean chit by the government.
NEW DELHI: Several citizens' groups including environmentalists and parliamentarians on Wednesday joined hands and called for a ban on soft drinks manufactured by MNCs Pepsi and Coke, which have been given a clean chit by the government.
"To ban or not ban Coke and Pepsi cannot depend on one Minister under the influence of the US Government. It cannot depend only on the standards set by corrupt and manipulated Government agencies," environmentalist Vandana Shiva said.
Shiva, along with various other citizen movement groups, has charted a three-month protest programme throughout the country wherein they will go to schools and colleges in both villages and cities to educate them about the hazardous effects of consuming colas.
The programme also includes a week-long complete blockade of all transport facilities for the cola products in November.
The protests are being organised under the banner "Coke Pepsi Quit India".
Speaking on the occasion, Member of Parliament Veerender Kumar brought forth the issue as how the Parliament was not allowed to debate the issue.
Health Minister A Ramadoss on Tuesday told the Parliament that the Centre for Science and Environment had not followed a balanced approach while undertaking the scientific review of the cola samples.
The committee, constituted by the Health Minister for examining the methodology adopted by CSE, said that not only the sampling methodology lacked "scientific and statistically valid basis" but the "residue data reported based on GC-Mass confirmation is inconclusive."
The movement has also filed a public interest litigation against Coke and Pepsi, which has been pending for the last two years.
Also participating in the programme are Banwari Lal Sharma of the "Azadi Bachao Andolan", Supreme Court Advocate Prashant Bhushan, Dunu Roy of the Hazards Centre, and Mira Shiva, Chairperson of Ministry of Health Task Force on Food Safety.
They said that these soft drinks contain hazardous chemicals like phosphoric acid, ethylene Gycol, caffeine, high fructose corn syrup, and carbon dioxide.
"The pesticide issue is not the only issue of the fight against Pepsi and Coke. Even without pesticides they are slow poisons and that is why they have been banned in schools in America," they said.
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