The Hindu Business Line : Residual problem

The question of residual pesticides from groundwater and sugar-farming finding their way into bottled water and carbonated sweet drinks is becoming an increasingly complicated issue. Much doubt and confusion surrounds even the basic data, let alone an acceptable model of multiple causes. Adding fizz and spice to the debate is the fact that two large and profitable global brands, icons of American capitalism, are involved. That an NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is actually doing the government's job and pushing the Ministry of Health and, through it, the Bureau Industrial Standards (BIS) to determine and implement national standards adds further heat to the exchanges.

The recent findings report unacceptable levels of dangerous pesticides in cola drink samples in Delhi. Yet, banning the product may neither be the most helpful nor tactful, beyond political posturing. There are many related policy issues, and mindsets that need urgent change. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), which confirmed the 2003 CSE findings and directed the government to set standards, was the first ever on public health in independent India, which says something about the country's priorities. The BIS took over two years to formulate standards; the Ministry is yet to notify them.

The same companies that make colas also bottle drinking water, a runaway success as a product category, growing from zero to Rs 1,500 crore in a decade. Incidentally, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, is yet to include water under the definition of food. This must be remedied immediately. Pesticide residues can come from groundwater and sugar. It is generally believed that the bottled water sold by reputed brands is indeed safe to drink or, rather, the contamination, to use a WHO phrase, is within the tolerable daily intake levels. The hundreds of local brands are another matter; there is no effective policing of their quality. According to the BIS, what they sell is often found to be just tap water. Water is not a standard, manufactured ingredient yet; the industry has managed to satisfy the regulations prescribed for residues, both for single pesticides and a cocktail of them. Even CSE admits that the same companies are meeting the standards for bottled water, whatever the groundwater quality.

Sugar presents an intriguing situation. The JPC, the Health Ministry, the BIS and CSE seem to have established that the presence of pesticide residues in sugar from several sources is nil to negligible. Yet, the cola companies have been pushing for a protracted laboratory testing, which delays the fixation of any permanent norms, in turn raising questions about their interest in doing so. The crux is neither bottled water nor soft-drink, but pesticides, which need to be attacked in a concerted manner — across all impacted products. We simply cannot afford not to have a national policy that ensures their safe use. Not having one is as dangerous as the residues themselves.

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