No
immediate ban on Coke-Pepsi brands
Sandesh Prabhudesai
11 August 2003
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Goa has decided
not to ban soft drinks immediately, but only if the laboratory
reports establish that the soft drinks of two soft drink multinationals
are 'dangerous' to health.
Goa, a tourist state that is having quite high consumption
rate of soft drinks, has sent samples of both Coke and Pepsi
products to the laboratory.
"I do not want to overreact and act", said chief
minister Manohar Parrikar, in response to the demand made
by his party to ban soft drinks in Goa, on line of the Parliament.
However, he also made it clear that he would not hesitate
to ban it immediately, if the laboratory reports go on the
lines of the report of the Centre for Science and Environment
that both the multinationals use much higher content of pesticides
in all its 12 branded products.
According to Parrikar, the quality of water also differs
from place to place. In Goa, one of the multinational uses
well water for bottling, unlike the tap water.
"In any case, any soft drink is bad for health and no
doctor encourages you to drink soft drinks", states the
chief minister. "But I cannot ban it unless it is dangerous
to health", he adds.
Besides the sample testing, he has also instructed the Foods
and Drugs Administration authorities to check the process
of bottling in the tourist state. "We need to check the
process rather than mere samples", he opines.
Following the CSE report, the panic has also struck the tourist
state severely while the season would begin here next month.
Protests by political youth organisations were also witnessed
here, like other states all over the country.
Meanwhile, the state has decided to set up a full-fledged
capacity building project for food safety and quality control,
with the help of World Bank. The Rs 45 million worth project
would help in checking quality of such soft drinks, food items
and even the spurious liquor that is being manufactured in
Goa, said Parrikar.
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