Question:
After bottled water, it's aerated water that has plugged the purity test. In another exposC), Down To Earth has found that 12 major cold drink brands sold in and around Delhi contain a deadly tail of pesticide residues dangerous enough to cause, in the long term, cancer, birth defects besides damaging the nervous and reproductive systems?

Answer: The tests also revealed that market leaders Coca-Cola and Pepsi had almost similar concentrations of pesticide residues. Total pesticides in all PepsiCo brands on an average were 0.0180 mg/l (milligramme per litre), 36 times higher than the EEC limit for total pesticides (0.0005 mg/l). Total pesticides in all Coca-Cola brands on an average were 0.0150 mg/l, 30 times higher than the EEC limit.

While contaminants in Pepsi were 37 times higher than the EEC limit, they exceeded the norms by 45 times in Coca-Cola. Mirinda Lemon topped the chart among all the tested brand samples, with a total pesticide concentration of 0.0352 mg/l.

The cold drinks sector in India is a much bigger money-spinner than the bottled water segment. In 2001, Indians consumed over 6,500 million bottles of cold drinks. Its growing popularity means that children and teenagers, who glug these bottles, are drinking a toxic potion.

PML also tested two soft drink brands sold in the US, to see if they contained pesticides. They didn't.

CSE found that the regulations for the powerful and massive soft drinks industry are much weaker, indeed non-existent, as compared to those for the bottled water industry. The norms that exist to regulate the quality of cold drinks are a maze of meaningless definitions. This "food" sector is virtually unregulated.