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BANGALORE, March 12

THE fracas over pesticides in bottled water is an issue that has been blown out of proportion, according to FRESH (Foundation of Food Research and Enterprise for Safety and Hygiene), a Bangalore-based NGO which works towards food safety.

Adopting a moderate stand, Dr A.S. Aiyar, former Technical Director of Godrej Foods, and Member FRESH, he said that an "unwarranted scare" had been created which could hurt the country's interest in the long-term interest with regard to pesticide use. "There is no justification for the amount of drama that has been built up," he said.

While not disputing the findings of the CSE (Centre for Science and Environment), which broke the pesticide story first, Dr Aiyar said that the conclusions drawn were "whimsical", and "deserved condemnation".

CSE had compared the test results to the EU standards, which are higher than the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

If they had compared it to the standards in the US and Canada, the water would have been declared totally safe, he said. Each country has its own standards of tolerance levels, which have to be "achievable, affordability and actionable," he said.

The EU standards are simply not achievable in the Indian context. On the other hand, BIS standards are a lot more strict than those in developed countries such as the US and Canada.

Pesticide residue was a much larger problem and it was not fair to single out just bottled water, he said. Food including vegetables, fruits, cereals, poultry and meat also contained huge amounts of pesticides for the same reason. A twenty-year old study had found pesticide presence in human milk too.

Contamination from water is miniscule, compared to that from food, he said. The Government's "knee jerk" reaction in revising the standards upwards is like "plugging a leak in the wall to keep the flood from coming in while the doors are open," he said.

The problem needed to be addressed at the root, by regulating the use of pesticides. Excess pesticides seep into the ground water, contaminating the source itself, he said.

Dr Aiyar, who has been invited to make a presentation to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on the subject, said that there had been a lot of confusion and contradictory responses to the issue.

In the larger picture, the country still has to bring all potable water under the PFA (Prevention of Food Adulteration) Act. Today, there is no regulation to determine the quality of tap water, which is infested with harmful microbial organisms.

Adding his arguments to Dr Aiyar, Mr V.K. Somashekhar, Managing Trustee, Grahakshakti, a consumer organisation said, "We can't demolish an institution like the BIS.

"Why didn't CSE testify back to the authorities and get out a better report? Why did it sensationalise the issue?" Crisiticing the organisation for blowing the whole thing out of proportion, he asked "What is the damage you are trying to do?"

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