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The recent report from the Rajasthan Drugs Control Organisation on the alleged presence of formaldehyde in Johnson and Johnson’s baby shampoo has stirred up a discussion on products from foreign companies and the standards they adhere to.
Should they adhere to Indian or international standards; or should the international standards be the Indian standards as well? And what happens when there are no Indian standards on a particular food or chemical ingredient? Can companies hide behind that and stand their legal ground?
In J&J’s case, the company has contested the Rajasthan regulatory body’s findings and samples are being re-tested. Responding to the development, J&J had pointed out that there was “no prescribed test method or requirement for testing Formaldehyde in shampoo under the applicable standards”. Also, they added, the company does not add formaldehyde, nor do they have ingredients that could release it over time. The jury is still out on this one.
But India has had precedents where foreign companies have taken a strident stance on their products that they claimed met international standards, only to whittle down the response later to say that they were in India and the local market did not have a standard on a particular ingredient. About 15 years ago, there was many a storm in a bottle of water and soft drink over the presence of pesticide residue. The companies responded as they always do, stating that they met international standards. It later came down to blaming ground water that had pesticide and so products using it had pesticide too. But there were no Indian norms on pesticide residue in bottled water and soft drinks and the government had to formulate them.
In another situation on standards and disclosures, Nestle too traced a tricky path with Maggi, when it said they had no added MSG (mono sodium glutamate), without pointing to what could occur naturally.
A company that prides itself on selling in various global markets should, in a sense, be above the law by showing greater rigour, ethics and disclosures than may be required in a particular regional market.
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