New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked cola companies Pepsi Co and Coca Cola to file their replies within six weeks on the N K Ganguly Committee report that concluded cola drinks contained pesticide residues.
The Health Ministry on March 14 had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court admitting pesticide residues in cola drinks.
A bench headed by Justice A K Thakker, which was hearing a public interest litigation by a civil society group – Centre for Public Interest – also directed the NGO to file its reply.
The petitioner had contended that cola drinks were harmful for human consumption.
After the Health Ministry came out with the affidavit, Coca-Cola India had come out with an official statement.
In its press release, the company had said, "Our products are safe and the analysis of the products for the pesticide residue is available on our website. We have always supported the setting up of standards on pesticide residue in soft drinks and welcome the move in that direction."
The Ganguly Committee was set up after Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment revealed that new tests have detected dangerous level of toxins in colas.
A similar CSE report in 2003 had led to a joint Parliamentary probe into the matter. Four years later, the NGO again went public with the findings of its studies, claiming that soft drinks were still not clean.
It claimed that compared to 2003, Pepsi contained 30 times higher pesticide residue on an average and Coca-Cola contained 27 times higher residue.
The NGO claimed that it found three to five different kinds of pesticide residues in all the 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands that it had collected from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co, spread over 12 states.
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