Ramadoss dodges pesticola issue

NEW DELHI: After eluding the Lok Sabha, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss then dodged the issue of pesticides being found in soft drinks. The only assurance he gave, in a statement tabled in the House, was that the government would treat the issue with “utmost seriousness” and take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of consumers.

“The ministry of health and family welfare has taken note of the studies carried out by the Centre for Science and Environment as well as the discussions in print and electronic media,” said the statement tabled by Mr Ramadoss, who was pulled up by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for his absence from the House earlier in the day. “I resent his absence from the House,” the speaker said. The minister was to make a statement on the issue of pesticide contamination of soft drinks.

The statement said the CSE has made available a copy of the study and the report was being examined. It said the ministry viewed the issue of contamination of soft drinks with “utmost seriousness” and would take all necessary steps to ensure the health of consumers.

The statement also said that as per the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), set up after the CSE’s report in ’03, the standards for soft drinks were amended making it mandatory for manufacturers to use water conforming to standards prescribed for packaged drinking water to make soft drinks. It said a study commissioned by the ministry, to look for pesticide residues in samples of sugar — used in making soft drinks — collected from different regions of the country largely found an absence of pesticides.

The data generated is being reviewed by a peer group of 2-3 pesticide residue chemists from designated government institutions and is expected to be completed shortly, it said. Once completed, a multi-centre study using LC-MS-MS (liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry) would be conducted to pre-empt the remotest possibility of pesticides emanating from sugar, it added.