There’s quite a controversy brewing (thanks, Scott Carney) over the pesticide content in Indian soft drinks. The vast majority of these are owned by the multinational Coke and Pepsi companies, and are of course manufactured and bottled locally in India using all local ingredients. 
The controversy actually began three years ago, with a report from the Centre for Science and the Environment that alleged high concentrations of pesticides in soda samples. The government at the time attacked the findings aggressively, and questioned the credibility of the scientists who conducted it. But as a result of the study, strict standards for pesticide content were put in place for the water that is used in soft drinks, though standards for the sugar and other ingredients that go into the soda still haven’t been finalized.
Now the CSE has done another study, and published the findings in its magazine, Down to Earth. The actual numbers, and notes on methodology, are available on this PDF. (I haven’t found a more formal, “science journal” style article indicating the methodology of the study in detail anywhere.) The CSE says it is testing the soft drinks using methodology developed by the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
There are stories floating around of farmers using Coke and Pepsi drinks as low-budget pesticides, which would be a rather grim confirmation of this finding if substantiated. Of course, it’s unlikely that the amount of pesticide in these drinks is actually killing any bugs (the study finds pesticides in the drinks in the range of 11 parts per billion); it might well be the citric acid or the phosphoric acid (on the other hand, wouldn’t bugs be attracted to the sugar?). As a commentor on Scott Carney’s blog points out, it’s not clear whether this is a widespread practice, or a bit of an ‘urban legend’.
On the government side of things, a question this story raises is why they have been unable to finalize standards for all the ingredients for pesticides. The minister in charge of this task, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, seems to only speak a particular dialect of bureaucratese:
Responding to the latest study by the Centre for Science and Environment here on the levels of pesticides in soft drinks, Dr. Ramadoss said it was for the State Governments to routinely check the quality of items available in the market for human consumption as per various laws and this was being done.
Inviting CSE director Sunita Narain for discussion on the issue, Dr. Ramadoss said it was wrong on her part to allege that the Government had failed to notify standards for soft drinks.
He said the standards for packaged water had already been notified and the standards for sugar and concentrate would be finalised within the next six months.
The Indian Council for Medical Research was finalising the standards for sugar and had already met thrice, he added. (link)
Translation: You’re wrong, we’ve done it. Which is to say, we did part of it. The other part will be done in six months! So obviously, it’s already done, and shame on you for suggesting otherwise.
The other question this raises is why the government insists on setting standards based on ingredients, not the final product. If CSE can test the samples and determine pesticide content, why can’t the Indian government do the same tests? If the soda companies are in violation, the onus is on them to figure out where and how it happened, and fix it.
Perhaps, not being a particularly science-oriented person, I’m missing something here.
