HT, Patna 1-9-03 PLATFORM

So what is your poison?

by Prashant Bhushan

Despite the alarming results of various studies done on soft drinks, governments have not bothered to either curb their consumption or educate the people about the health hazards posed by them.

NOTWITHSTANDING THE clean chit given to soft drinks by the government, the nation must thank the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) for opening its eyes to the pesticides contained in soft drinks, for which there are still no standards in this country. The issue raised by CSE transcends soft drinks and indeed goes to the root of citizens' rights for clean water, which appears to be the main source of the pesticides in soft drinks. It may be stated here that the government's report does not falsify CSE's findings, since it did not test the batches tested by CSE, and it is not known how it picked out the samples for testing. The level of pesticides in drinks would vary from bottling plant to bottling plant and may even vary from batch to batch. Moreover, the government did find pesticides above the EU norms in nine of the 12 drinks tested. The row has at least forced the reluctant authorities to examine the matter and perhaps we may now see standards being laid down for soft drinks and water.

The indifferent attitude of the authorities to the health hazards posed by soft drinks lays bare the effectiveness with which lobbies of the processed food industry work with government authorities. Just one recent example should be sufficient to illustrate the remarkable hold of soft drink companies over governments. Recently, the WHO released a draft report suggesting that the consumption of soft drinks is a major cause of obesity in the West, a finding which could hardly be controverted, given the fact that almost one-third of the consumption of sugar and 10 per cent of the total calorie intake of persons in the US comes from soft drinks. Yet, such is the influence of this $ 60 billion industry over the US government that the latter objected to this report, saying that "insufficient evidence to conclude a causal link between soft drinks consumption and weight gain exists". It demanded that the offending words be "deleted or significantly revised".

Given the alarming results of various studies that have been done to document the health hazards of soft drinks, one is forced to conclude that lack of government action to curb its consumption must be the result of organised lobbying by this industry Consider the known facts about the poisonous brew. To begin with, each can contains the equivalent of 10-12 spoons of sugar in a particularly harmful form known as high fructose corn syrup. Animals on high fructose diets develop liver problems similar to those in alcoholics. Dr. Charles Best, the discoverer of insulin, says that teenagers who consume too many soft drinks have cirrhosis of the liver. It is also known to be associated with poor development of collagen in growing animals, especially with copper deficiency. Diet sodas contain a chemical sweetener called aspartame, which is a potent neurotoxin and endocrine disrupter. Another key ingredient of soft drinks is phosphoric acid, which is added to give it 'bite'. This is well-known to cause tooth rot, bone loss, osteoporosis and gastro-intestinal distress. Though all soft drinks are acidic, dark ones like Coke and Pepsi are the most acidic and it has been found that it takes 32 glasses of high PH alkaline water to neutralise a glass of cola.

Most soft drinks also contain significant quantities of caffeine which, apart from being addictive, also stimulates the adrenal gland and is known to cause nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness and an increase in the heart rate. In order to make soft drinks which can be consumed really chilled (below the freezing point of water), the manufacturers add an anti-freeze compound called ethylene glycol, which is known to cause cancer Soft drinks also contain toxic chemicals in the form of artificial colours and flavours which cause problems, like allergies.

It is estimated that in 1996, people were drinking 20.6 million tonnes of chemicals from soft drinks alone — nearly 4 kg per person! A recent BBC study confirmed by the Kerala Pollution Control Board, found high levels of cadmium, another carcinogen, in the solid waste discharge of a Coke bottling plant. This discharge was being supplied to the local farmers as fertiliser!

But isn't there any nutritional value in these soft drinks? Studies sponsored by the soft drinks industry showed a correlation between the quantities of soft drinks consumed and exercise, as if consumption of soft drinks leads people to exercise more! Obviously, this correlation means that those who play games are likely to consume more soft drinks in an attempt to quench their thirst. But, in fact, it has been found that most soft drinks act as diuretics, meaning that they takeout water from the body

So, quite apart from the pesticides found in soft drinks, it is their other ingredients which make them virtually a poison brew, posing in my view, a more serious threat to public health than even tobacco. Yet, nothing has been done to curb their consumption. On the other hand, as markets in the West have been saturated, soft drink multinationals have turned their attention to developing countries. Most of the soft drink advertising is aimed at the youth, and icons like cricketers and film stars have been roped in to lure the young. Some of the advertisements unabashedly suggest to rural youth that if they want to break their shackles and move ahead in the world, they must consume soft drinks. Far from curbing such advertising, or educating-the people about the harmful effects of soft drinks, the government has permitted them to be advertised even in the government-owned media. Nor is there any attempt on the government's part to educate people about the health effects of soft drinks. Instead, soft drink bottling plants have been allowed to extract enormous amounts of ground water without any payment, creating shortages for and unrest within the local communities.

Even after the harmful effects of tobacco had been fully established, it took more than 30 years and the loss of tens of millions of lives for governments to start curbing tobacco consumption. In India, though a similar parliamentary enactment has been passed after much delay, it has not yet been notified by the government to bring it into effect. There has been an alarming increase in the incidence of diabetes, obesity and hypertension, especially in the young urban population, recently It would not be coincidental that the same period has also seen a rapid increase in soft drink consumption in the same population. Will only a massive toll in human lives force the government to act?