Reacting to the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Sushma Swaraj's statement in Parliament giving a clean chit to Coke and Pepsi, Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based non governmental organisation, accused the government of misleading consumers and ignoring the general health of the public.
In a hurriedly called press conference, CSE director Sunita Narain said the government is trying to convince people to drink soft drinks calling it "safe". This, she said, was unfortunate.
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Narain said: "This is a clear case of creating confusion and spreading misinformation. The problem is not with the findings of the government. The intent of the government giving a clean chit to these companies is not acceptable."
The CSE, she said, still stands by its report and asked the government to make known the methodology that it adopted to test the samples.
The government's report is based on the findings of two different laboratories -- Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore and Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata.
Narain said: "We are not disputing the findings of the government's report. But we are surprised as to why there is so much variation in the two reports. Therefore, the government should tell us its testing methodology. We have no reason to say that our report was wrong."
She said the difference in the findings could be due to the date and place from which the samples were collected, and the methodology adopted for testing.
Pesticide content in soft drinks is basically due to the quality of source water used to prepare these drinks.
Water quality throughout the country would not be same, and hence there were chances of variation in the level of pesticide present in the soft drinks.
She said: "The scientists who have conducted the test (for the government) have told me that they took samples mostly from south India. This could be one reason for the low level of pesticide found in the samples taken by them."
"We don't know who collected the samples and from where and when those samples were collected. We need to know this."
But, she said, she was happy that the government has at least admitted that pesticide was present in the soft drinks.
"I am happy that she (Sushma Swaraj) has accepted that the regulations are weak," Narain said, adding, it was unfortunate that the minister did not go ahead and say that the rules would be amended.
Narain said CSE has been deeply hurt because the government did not recognise the NGO's efforts in highlighting an important issue of public health.
"These companies (Coke and Pepsi) have been given a clean chit, and CSE has been put to scrutiny," she lamented. "This is unfortunate."
While making an announcement in Lok Sabha, Swaraj said the soft drinks complied with the safety norm of drinking water.
Reacting to this, Narain said: "The government knows very well that the current safety norm of drinking water was weak. The current norms have been changed and the new norm will come into effect from January. The soft drinks currently do not follow the new norms."
Swaraj in her statement said the government might announce norms for the water used to prepare soft drinks.
Narain said: "This wont do. There should be norms for the source water as well as the final product. Because it is ultimately the final product that matters. This is how it is all over the world."
But Coke and Pepsi had earlier said that there were no norms in any country for soft drinks.
Supporting her organisation's report, Narain said the CSE had conducted the GC/MS (Gas Chromotography Mass Spectrometer) test, which is done to check extremely low level of pesticide.
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