Pesticides in Coke Mean Boon for Farmers

Little has changed in the three years since the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released a report of high--possibly lethal--levels of pesticides in Coke. Marking the anniversary in their magazine Down to Earth, the CSE has alleged that the government has made no moves to rein in the soft drink industry. Rather than, say, stop dumping barrels of toxins into Coke's secret formula, Coke enlisted the aid of international heavyweight Colin Powell to lobby on behalf of American business interests and quell a developing media storm.

In a new study by CSE they sampled 57 different soft drink brands from plants all over India and found that on average pesticide levels were 24 times higher than the accepted norms. In at least one sample Lindine, a known carcinogen, was more than 140 times the norm.

In lieu of this news I am going to swear off Coke and stick to safer varieties of local juices and coffee. At least whatever nasty concoction of amoeba and cholera present in the water supply can be treated with a stiff course of antibiotics.

The report should be a warning to all of India's soft drink aficionados. But there is an unexpected upside that should bring smiles to the faces of farmers across the nation and possibly put a little packet of money back into Coke's coffers.

In 2004 the Guardian ran a story about how farmers in Andhra Pradesh had begun to move away from buying pesticides from international agro-conglomerates and instead opted to douse their crops with Coke to keep the bugs at bay. Coke, which sells at rs 30 for a liter soundly beat out the popular pesticides Avant, Tracer and Nuvocron that sold for rs 10,000.

Farmers couldn't resist the rs 9,970 savings and despite all efforts to quell the soft drink's popularity as a bug killer, they couldn't. The stuff actually worked.

Now it is difficult to say why Coke is so good at deterring insects from gutting fields of corn and cotton, but the presence of high concentrations of pesticides certainly can't hurt.

So Coke doesn't have to worry about losing my business. While there isn't a chance I'm going to keep it near my dinner table, children, or even pets, they can rest assured I will use it in my garden.