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Hyderabad , Sept. 2

THE Medically Aware and Responsible Citizens of Hyderabad (MARCH) on Tuesday demanded the Government to ask Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to close shop and leave the country.

"The policies of the Government must be directed towards safeguarding the interests of the people rather than the interests of multinational companies," Dr P.M. Bhargava, Chairman of MARCH and former founder-Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said.

At a news conference here, he said the cola companies did no good to the country. "In fact, they have done enormous harm by pushing out of the market much better drinks of our own. They should be asked to quit the country as was done in 1977," he said.

Referring to the analysis of about 100 samples of soft drinks manufactured by the two cola giants by different testing agencies, he said it was clear that a majority of the samples were contaminated with pesticide residues at levels above those permitted by the European Union.

Asking the Government to set up appropriate standards for water and other food and drink products, Dr Bhargava called for steps to check against further contamination of water bodies with pesticides.

"The Government should set up a chain of highly professional laboratories conforming to international standards where people could send in samples of food products and beverages for analysis," he said.

He also wanted the Government to come out with legislation to keep tabs on the erring companies. "If a product meant for human or animal consumption as a food or drink item violates internationally accepted safety norms, the manufacturer should be made liable for prosecution, which includes withdrawal of the licence or closure of the factory."

With regard to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) headed by Mr Sharad Pawar to look into the issue, Dr Bhargava felt that it should collect all the primary data from all the organisations that analysed the samples. "The committee should let an unbiased expert group comprising people with proven technical expertise, social commitment and integrity to go study the data," he said.

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