A hue and cry has been raised over the levels of pesticide found in Coca Cola and Pepsi sold in India, with many states jumping on the bandwagon to announce bans on soft drink sales. But is it only the soft drinks which are to blame?
On a trip to India made in July 2004, I noticed that Kelloggs India had a special "only in India"promotion of a Spiderman toy freebie with their cereals, which my kids promptly put to good use in fake battles. Except that the toys in question had already been subject in the same month to a recall in the US, because of the danger of improper disposal of its batteries which contain mercury. Why does Kelloggs do this? Because they can. Because ultimately, brown lives and environments are worth less than those in the US. Because the Indian government couldn’t care less unless some celebrity chooses to start a hunger fast on the issue.
Fast forward to 2006, and those pesky environmentally-unfriendly ‘cool wrist-projector’ toys are still being dumped in India on another promotion,for the latest Superman movie this time. Curiously, Google searches don’t pull up any advertising for this new promotion. Meanwhile, questions arise about how all the previous toys had been disposed of. It was an unsettling sight/olfactory experience to drive past the burning refuse piles of Pallikaranai on the outskirts of Chennai. One wonders about the toxins released by improper disposal of these kinds of trash, the effects on the groundwater and food chains.
Paging Arundhati Roy, Medha Patkar, Maneka Gandhi, Aamir Khan(?)…or better still all Kollywood (Chennai’s version of Hollywood/Bollywood) actors with huge and worshipful fan bases to get people to be more environmentally aware and demand accountability, not just line the pockets of the big multinational corporations by promoting their pesticide-laced (or not) products.
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Accidental Blogger 
3 responses to “Should Coke/Pepsi be banned in India for pesticide content, or should groundwater itself be banned?( Sujatha)”
It is hardly a surprise that western multi-nationals would like to ease quality control and dump defective and toxic products in Asia or Africa for the sake of the almighty bottom line. What is really infuriating is that the Indian government would wink and nod at such lapses for the sake of free trade and open market. But then local environmental standards are so pathetic that the government is hardly on a moral high ground. Those (some of whom you name in your plea) who question the apathy are termed radicals, communists and opponents of prosperity. There have been horrendous cases of crippling diseases in rural Bengal due to toxic levels of arsenic in ground water. I am quite sure mercury poisoning is not far behind.
What can you expect from a government who seeks to be a nuclear world power but leaves it to its citizens to dig wells, buy generators, install filters to ensure safe and reliable supply of water and electricity? Civic amenities which should normally be a government function have now become individual citizens’ responsibility!
LikeLike
Just as the residents of Plachimada, Kerala banded up to fight the almighty CocaCola company, it’s ordinary citizens who are making the effort to ensure that their water supply isn’t affected. It isn’t just a question of water pollution, but equitable sharing of the existing water supplies as well. My own father-in-law is helping with a local homeowner’s association and panchayat’s fight to prevent the depletion of water resources by a bottling plant which has been proposed for their area. Who knows where this will end?
LikeLike
why only coke&pepsi.it should all food products which is not up to the mark for public use
LikeLike