Indian Parliament Bans Coke and Pepsi from Cafeteria

[Devlzown]

The Indian parliament has banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi products in its cafeteria. Indian parliamentarians should take the logical next step, and ban the sale of Coke and Pepsi products in the entire country.

The ban came as the result of tests, including those by the Indian government, which found high concentrations of pesticides and insecticides, including lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos, in the colas, making them unfit for consumption. Some samples tested showed the presence of these toxins to be more than 30 times the standard allowed by the European Union. Tests of samples taken from the U.S. of the same drinks were found to be safe.
http://www.guerrillanews.com/globalization/doc3764.html

[kalian]

1. Way cool!

[Karenina]

2. Coca-cola aiding

the PNAC vision of "targeted population control?" :shrug:

[donsu]

3. agree

genocide comes in many forms

[Pale_Rider]

4. Pepsi and Coke in India is bottled in India.

Probably more of an indictment of the water quality in India than anything else.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. And a lot of them wish they weren't

"The year-long agitation against the over-exploitation of groundwater by the Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada and the environmental pollution caused through the sludge discharged from the plant is reaching its crescendo."

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=39597

[philosophie_en_rose]

5. Good. There is no nutritional value in soda.

It's tooth decay in a glass, from both acid and sugar. It's also empty calories with absolutely no nutritional value.

American kids are forced to drink soda in many places. Milk is sold in my little sister's school, but the school also has a contract with Pepsi to sell pepsi products. Needless to say, there aren't glowing milk machines around the campus.

[KansDem]

7. "high concentrations of pesticides and insecticides"

not to mention high concentrations of high fructose corn syrup. Or artificial sweetener.

You'll have to excuse me. I haven't had a high-fructose-corn-syrup based soft drink, or its artificially-sweetened counterpart, since January, 1980. It was then I decided to choose between that kind of soft drink and beer.

I chose beer :beer:gulp, gulp

But I still don't understand (other than through the influence, persuasion, and manipulation of marketing, packaging, and advertising) why that swill Coke/Pepsi puts out still remains popular.

[Say_What]

9. Fortunately for me I never liked soda of any kind

and booze I gave up long ago as well. ;-)

Cheers. :beer:

[lightbulb]

16. Agreed, I was a bit dismayed to see the actual reason

for them pulling this garbage out of schools. I thought perhaps they had come to their senses and seen soft drinks for what they actually are. Too bad it took garbage within the garbage to make this happen! But at least it happened.

[Say_What]

8. Toxic Sludge is good for you

:puke: and they employ the same methods in India as they do in Colombia--movement leader beaten (in this case)--in Colombia they assasinate them.

From the article:

...And as if there wasn't enough fizz in the water already, so to speak, Coca-Cola, in another goodwill gesture, was giving away the toxic sludge from its plant in Kerala to farmers for free -- as fertilizer! Tests on samples of the toxic sludge commissioned by BBC, not surprisingly, found high levels of lead and cadmium.

Coca-Cola has chosen to "fix" the problem of water shortage and groundwater pollution by assigning it to its public relations department. Any letter or email to Coke on this issue will be responded to by a form letter, accusing the issue to be the work of a "handful of extremists". A visit to the communities, as well as numerous studies including those by government agencies, will confirm that nothing could be further from the truth. Thousands of people continue to protest Coke facilities all across India.

Unable to control the increasing number of communities speaking out against Coca-Cola, we are now witnessing the increasing use of force in dealing with local complaints against the cola multinational. On September 11 this year, armed security forces violently attacked a peaceful demonstration of over a thousand community members in Mehdiganj, Uttar Pradesh, resulting in grave injuries to some. On August 30, this time in Kerala, 13 activists were arrested during a peaceful demonstration and a leader of the movement was severely beaten by the police.

Coca-Cola, along with the government, may believe that the use of force will make the problem go away. It was this kind of tactics which has led to a lawsuit in the U.S. against the Colombian subsidiary of Coca-Cola for using para-military forces to kill union leaders in Coca-Cola plants in Colombia.

[colonel odis]

10. are we going to have to invade india now?

n/t

[arikara]

11. The corn syrup in these drinks is made from GE corn

at least in North America.

[Zhade]

12. Source this, please!

If true - and I wouldn't be surprised - I need to send the info to my son's mother, so she'll finally stop letting him drink that crap!

[KansDem]

13. Here's some information, although not exactly what you wanted.

High Fructose Corn Sweetener (HFCS): This sweetener is used nearly as much as white sugar in packaged and processed foods. Overall, 40 percent of the sweeteners consumed in this country are in the form of corn syrup which is cheaper to use than white sugar. Ounce for ounce, pure fructose is about 60 percent sweeter than white sugar. High fructose corn syrup is in innumerable processed foods and beverages, many of which can be found on the shelves of some natural food stores. Despite its name, this fructose is not made from fruit but comes from corn syrup treated with enzymes.

Dr. William Whelan, a biochemistry professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine and an outspoken critic of fructose, says we have to limit our intake of this substance, as it's metabolized differently than other sweeteners. "We have no built-in biochemical mechanism to regulate the rate at which we assimilate it. One of the effects of eating pure fructose is to become hypoglycemic." Hypoglycemia is a condition of low blood sugar that can cause, among other symptoms, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, and headaches. Since HFCS sneaks into our diets via processed foods and drinks, the only good way to monitor your intake is by reading labels.

http://www.consciouschoice.com/food/naturalsweeteners1202.html

[Zhade]

18. Thanks for the info!

NT!

[KansDem]

14. More information...

Pullulanase: used in the production of high fructose corn syrup If you want to absolutely avoid genetically engineered enzymes you will have two choices: avoid foods in the following categories, or call the food manufacturers directly and ask them if their enzymes are genetically engineered. They will probably have no idea. Ask them to check and call them back again. Let us know if you get written confirmation.

http://www.btinternet.com/~clairejr/Action/enzimes.html

[Zhade]

19. Thanks for looking this up.

Good info!

[KansDem]

15. Still more...

Consumers trying to avoid genetically modified foods should avoid HFCS. It is almost certainly made from genetically modified corn and then it is processed with genetically modified enzymes. I've seen some estimates claiming that virtually everything—almost 80 percent—of what we eat today has been genetically modified at some point. Since the use of HFCS is so prevalent in processed foods, those figures may be right.

But there's another reason to avoid HFCS. Consumers may think that because it contains fructose—which they associate with fruit, which is a natural food—that it is healthier than sugar. A team of investigators at the USDA, led by Dr. Meira Field, has discovered that this just ain't so.

Sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose. When sugar is given to rats in high amounts, the rats develop multiple health problems, especially when the rats were deficient in certain nutrients, such as copper. The researchers wanted to know whether it was the fructose or the glucose moiety that was causing the problems. So they repeated their studies with two groups of rats, one given high amounts of glucose and one given high amounts of fructose. The glucose group was unaffected but the fructose group had disastrous results. The male rats did not reach adulthood. They had anemia, high cholesterol and heart hypertrophy—that means that their hearts enlarged until they exploded. They also had delayed testicular development. Dr. Field explains that fructose in combination with copper deficiency in the growing animal interferes with collagen production. (Copper deficiency, by the way, is widespread in America.) In a nutshell, the little bodies of the rats just fell apart. The females were not so affected, but they were unable to produce live young.

http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html

[pacifictiger]

17. seems I remember a year or two ago

a documentary about cocacola in india. It had something to do with a controversy of them drawing water straight from the poluted ganges river to use in coke, while at the same time trying to secure water rights and commercialize water ownership, denying simple indians access.

[Zhade]

20. I remember a story about CC damming the Ganges to steal the water...

...and selling it as bottled water.

Anyone else hear this? Or am I way off?