In 57 samples of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo drinks produced in 12 Indian states, the CSE found the average amount of pesticide residues to be 11.85 parts per billion (ppb), 34 times higher than the permitted limit set by the Bureau of Indian Standards. These standards by the BIS have been drafted but not implemented.
Already, Coke and Pepsi are feeling the heat. Three years after a similar report by CSE found pesticide residues up to 24 times the acceptable standards found in the West, the two soda giants have lost customers. Coke, which claimed in 2005 to have some 60.9 percent of the market share, reported a 10 percent drop in unit case volumes sold in the first quarter of this year. Pepsi, which has a 36 percent market share, seems to be weathering the storm better, because of its concentration in the fruit juice and sports drink markets.
Coke and Pepsi are not the only contaminated food products, however. A previous study by CSE found pesticide residues in many bottled water brands sold in India, and a committee set up by the Indian Ministry of Agriculture also found pesticide residues such as DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane), HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) and BHC (benzene hexachloride) in everything from milk and baby milk powder to honey, fruit jam, and fresh fruit.
The problem has as much to do with agricultural practices encouraged by the Indian government - a focus on boosting yields with pesticides and chemicals - as it does with growing demand for water. Across much of India, tube wells have lowered the water table, leaving those pesticides that have trickled into the groundwater at ever-increasing concentrations.
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