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New Delhi , Aug. 28

FOR consumers confused over conflicting reports on the presence of pesticides in soft drinks, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Thursday sought to clear the clutter.

"Doubts and confusion over the methodology and results would have been instantly clarified had the reports been tabled the very same day that the Minister chose to address the Parliament," CSE said in its communiqué issued after the Government made its report public here on Thursday.

Pointing out that the Government had not revealed the full picture in its statement in Parliament, CSE said that the Government report highlighted the high variation between the Government results and CSE's findings, but the discrepancy was not explained. Further, the Government report did not mention that "the samples analysed by CFTRI was entirely from a different batch than the CSE samples and the results obtained are not comparable with the results of CSE, as pointed out by CFTRI's scientists."

"This means that our report, methodology, or findings were not wrong, but that the samples tested were completely different. A careful comparison of the batch numbers tested by CFTRI and CSE reveals that the entire numbering structure is different. The variation is due to differences in the batches and the samples tested, as the laboratory admits. This variation makes the methodology used for sample collection very important," CSE said.

Meanwhile, on the presence of malathion which was alleged to be 87 times the EU limit as per CSE report and was totally absent in the samples tested by the Government labs, CSE said: "It is well known that malathion is a chemical that "breaks down" very fast. The laboratory should have checked for its breakdown product, Malaoxon, which is also highly toxic to humans. However, according to the report, this was not done".

Cola cos reiterate safety

PepsiCo India on Thursday said its products were "perfectly safe" and were produced as per global quality standards.

In a statement, the company said: "We reiterate that our products are perfectly safe and are produced in accordance with best international practices and conform to the best international quality standards".

Meanwhile, Coca Cola India in its communiqué sought to "reassure" its customers that its products are "world-class and totally safe." This has been established by the Union Government's own tests and supported by recent test results of our samples by various State Governments, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the company said.

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