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   pat joseph Posted 9:58 am
   11 Aug 2006

   To be fair,...

   ...these additional details from the Christian Science Monitor show the problem goes deeper than Coke and Pepsi:

   Coke and Pepsi are not the only contaminated food products, however. A previous study by CSE found pesticide residues in many bottled water brands sold in India, and a committee set up by the Indian Ministry of Agriculture also found pesticide residues such as DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane), HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) and BHC (benzene hexachloride) in everything from milk and baby milk powder to honey, fruit jam, and fresh fruit.

   The problem has as much to do with agricultural practices encouraged by the Indian government - a focus on boosting yields with pesticides and chemicals - as it does with growing demand for water. Across much of India, tube wells have lowered the water table, leaving those pesticides that have trickled into the groundwater at ever-increasing concentrations.

   "It is suspected that most of our water bodies and soils are contaminated with these chemicals or with their degradation products," wrote the All India Coordinated Research Project on Pesticide Residues in their 2000 report. More than 60,000 tons of pesticides are used in India, recent studies show - 70 percent of them insecticides including DDT, a substance that spawned the modern US environmental movement because of its links to cancer and birth defects.

   That doesn't let Coke and Pepsi off the hook. Just saying, focusing on them doesn't get to the root of the problem. Even the NGO that released the findings say they just want the Indian govt to enforce its own standards.

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