Pesticides found in Indian soft drinks.

Many Indian sodas contain detectable amounts of pesticide residues, according to a report released in August by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Following the organization's discovery in February of pesticide residues in New Delhi's bottled water, which led the government to issue a national "notification" on pesticide residues in water, CSE tested samples of the 12 top soda brands marketed in India by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.

Using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency protocols, CSE's independent Pollution Monitoring Laboratory found total pesticide concentrations up to 70 times the amount permitted by European Economic Commission standards for water used for food products. Four commonly used insecticides were detected in at least 81 percent of the samples tested: DDT, malathion, lindane, and chloropyrifos. These chemicals have been linked to a variety of health complications, including nervous and immune system dysfunction and chromosomal mutation. On average, CSE found that PepsiCo brands contained 36 times the pesticides permitted under EEC standards, and Coca-Cola brands contained 30 times the amount allowed. (CSE also tested samples of similar soft drinks sold in the United States and found no pesticide residues. Soft drinks are usually bottled in the country where they are sold, suggesting the starkly worse quality of ground-water in India.)

Days after the CSE report was released, the Maharashtra state Food and Drug Administration banned distribution of all PepsiCo and Coca-Cola products as a "precautionary measure," and five other Indian states ordered tests of the soft drink products. Angry protesters took to the streets and burned effigies of Coke bottles. Coca-Cola recently announced that sales of its products in India fell 11 percent during the third quarter of 2003.

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have denied the allegations in CSE's report, arguing that their products are regularly tested by labs in India and the Netherlands. Both companies lodged legal complaints against CSE, and PepsiCo sought a gag order, calling CSE's report "unreliable." (PepsiCo has since announced that it will not press charges.) Lab reports show that the companies sent samples directly to testing labs, violating randomized sample protocols required by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The Delhi High Court ordered an expert committee to conduct new tests, which confirmed the presence of pesticide residues, though in lower concentrations than CSE reported. It also asked the government to examine the Indian standards for soft drinks, which CSE has labeled "a meaningless maze," and to implement pesticide limits comparable to other countries'.