The victims of groundwater depletion and environmental pollution at Plachimada, Kerala, caused by the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverage Company, will have to wait longer. The Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill 2011 is still with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) while it should have been on its way for presidential assent to make it an Act.
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By Savvy Soumya Misra
By Savvy Soumya Misra Studies confirm energy drinks like Red Bull can be unsafe. India yet to limit their caffeine content
Adopting dual standards is a practice large multi national corporations follow especially when it comes to developing countries. Soft drinks industry is a classic case of this as the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) discovered way back in 2003. A laboratory report prepared by CSE detailed some astonishing facts about the extent of pesticide contamination in soft drinks sold in India.
New Delhi, August 17, 2003: From attacking CSE’s testing methodology; trying to pass off water tests instead of tests on the final product; using the WTO as a bogeyman; questioning the existence of laboratories in the country that can test their products; to even questioning the existence of standards elsewhere in the world. Pepsi and Coca-Cola are trying every trick in the corporate book to discredit concerns raised by the CSE report on pesticides in aerated drinks sold in India.