Banning colas no solution: CSE

NEW DELHI: When it comes to banning Colas, environmental activist Sunita Narain is on the same side as Ficci and CII: The Centre for Science and Environment is against bans and is for regulation and enforcement of regulation instead. “I am in agreement with your editorial today, which asked for science-based standards, and their enforcement, except that I’d replace ‘science-based’ with ‘credible, enforceable’, said Narain during the course of a wide-ranging interaction with Team ET.

Softdrink MNCs Coke and Pepsi are hardly her ultimate targets, she clarified, but stepping stones towards the larger goal of setting standards for usage of pesticides across the board in India. She opposes bans on colas because “these bans will eventually be ‘managed’, but in all that sound and fury, the essential task of setting enforceable standards will get lost.”

But colas don’t have standards prescribed for them for pesticide levels anywhere in the world, ET pointed out: because of the complex compounds, say the cola companies, it will be difficult to measure pesticide levels in the cola itself and so standards are specified for inputs like water and sugar. But Narain would have none of this.

She concedes that globally colas have escaped having standards prescribed for them. But then, if other multi-ingredient, complex processed foods like baby foods can have prescribed, measurable standards for pesticide residue, why can’t colas have them? Moreover, “These companies have brought out advertisements which show various laboratories finding their products containing less than the permissible levels. These labs must have conducted tests on their so-called complex material, so then the tests can be performed.”

The Bureau of Indian Standards’ technical committee has, in fact, finalised standards for colas, but these have not been notified on specious grounds, said Narain. Her goal is to get these standards notified. As a direct consequence of CSE finding pesticides in packaged drinking water in ’03, stringent norms have been laid down for packaged drinking water.

These cola companies that also sell packaged drinking water do meet the stringent standards for their water, she says. Then why should they object to standards for colas as well? In all probability, because once standards are laid down for the final produce in India, they will have to face similar standards in other countries as well.”

The CSE chief maintained that in the current scenario, the real question should not be what it would cost the cola companies to ‘clean up their act’. “In the short term, it won’t cost the cola majors much. My feeling is that their real fear is of India setting standards for pesticide residue levels in soft drinks and the impact that could have in their other emerging markets like Korea and China.”

Thus far, there are two laws that regulate pesticides in India, The Insecticide Act (IA), 1968 under the union ministry of agriculture and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (PFA) under the union ministry of health and family welfare. While the IA mandates registration of pesticides, the PFA mandates the Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) that are set for India. According to CSE, 60% of the pesticides currently registered have no MRLs specified.

Narain agreed the real problem is contamination of ground water — after all, the cola companies do not add pesticide as a secret ingredient and the refined sugar they use contains virtually no trace of pesticide. Tackling water contamination is a multi-pronged task, she said, ranging from legislating liability on the pesticide companies to regulating the use of pesticides on the farm.

CSE has, in the past, tested human blood samples in Punjab and Kerala for pesticide levels and the results saw high levels of pesticides. Ms Narain said these samples also contained pesticides that the industry claims as decompose. Also, bottled water of various brands was tested in Delhi and Mumbai in ’03 and they exceeded the standards for pesticide residue limits as set by the European Union, which is 0.5 parts per billion. In ’04, BIS standards were set for bottled water. Also, standards for soft drinks have yet to be notified.