India has had a rich tradition of science and technology but not as we moderns know it. In ancient days the people of this country were more advanced and knew more about the basic principles of science. We knew many things about ways of life and living, which the West or the Americans of today who did not exist just 500 years ago claim to have knowledge of. For example, the Indians of the Vedic Age knew that turmeric powder healed wounds and was a very effective antiseptic and that neem leaves kept many diseases at bay. The Westerners are discovering that today and trying to patent it in their own names. This is the east-west divide, or the developed-underdeveloped divide or the haves or have-nots divide that is the root cause. Having developed industrially enabling them to manufacture and produce goods of all types in large quantities, and no market to sell them, they turned their eyes towards underdeveloped countries seeking profits. There are many senior citizens today who remember that during their school days, forty odd years ago, they were given the newly introduced Coca Cola free for several weeks.

Alongside, the multinational companies launched massive advertising campaigns to persuade people to give up their traditional soothing, cooling drinks and drink the synthetic products of the west.

Luckily, there was no television and multi-channel cable TV those days and therefore it took a long time for the message to penetrate the Indian psyche. Then the MNCs opened up another front to make the product popular. They built a false sense of status around it and made it a symbol of sophistication, breeding and taste. They even exploited the shape of the bottle and likened it to the contours of the female body and soon everybody became an ‘addict’.

This is the story of how Coca Cola launched its blitzkrieg against the people of this country and made millions and millions of dollars of profit. It was only the redoubtable and determined George Fernandes who gave them the boot and threw them out of the country in those heady days of 1977 when the ‘opposition’ (those days it meant all non-Congress parties) were ruling for the first time in their political careers. The buzz word was live swadeshi and anything that had a hint of anything foren about it became the target of their ire. Had that government survived, things would have been different today. The MNCs that were shunted out those days are now back, some through the back door, and again making money in this country at the cost of the people of this country. (Imagine in a country that was once called the ‘land flowing with rivers of milk and honey’, in the capital city of New Delhi right under the nose of the government of India one has to pay fifty paise for a glass of water and rupee one to urinate in a Shulab shauchalaya). This is the report card of this country after fifty years of independence.

It is against this background that one has to see the rising controversy over contamination of cold drinks that led to a furore all over the country and reverberated in Parliament where the elders decided to ban MNC produced cold drinks from the canteen of Parliament House.

It all began when Sunita Narain, Chief of the Centre for Science and Environment told a press conference that soft drinks marketed by global giants Coke and Pepsi were tested and it was found that all of them contained a ‘deadly pesticide cocktail’, which exceeded European norms by around 11-70 times. But as there was no Indian law that was being breached these manufacturers could go on making heavy profits at the cost of the health of the nation. That these MNCs were ‘cutting costs’ to make their balance-sheets look better was indicated when Narain said that samples picked up in the USA and tested did not show any trace of pesticides. (In the USA and Europe there are standards and rules under which citizens can drag companies to court for sub standard food and drink items.

The CSE testing result indicated high individual pesticide residues. For example, there was at least 15 times more DDT and metabolites than acceptable. Besides, lindane content was twenty one times higher, chlorophyrifos was 42 times and melathine 87 times more than prescribed health norms.

Narain expressed her shock that while MNCs were not setting an example on their own, the government was sitting back and ignoring the need for regulatory norms. She said: "This is worst than the bottled water case. At least mandatory certification is needed for this but there is nothing for this food industry. Here, there are no norms at all for an industry, which is established; it is not a question of small players."

According to experts there is high danger content in the pesticides found in the bottle. For example, DDT and metabolites affect the nervous system and are probable carcinogens. Lindane is a nerve poison that affects the reproductive system and is a known carcinogen. Chlorophyrifos can cause pneumonia, muscle paralysis and respiratory failure leading to death. Malathion also affects the nervous system and continuous use can cause respiratory paralysis and death. The cold drinks manufacturers took no time to explain the situation. The Sunita Narain press conference had hardly ended when Coke and Pepsi, traditional rivals all over the world, sunk their differences and joined hands. They challenged CSE testing methods and sought an independent scientific inquiry into the matter. At the same time they claimed that their products were safe and world class.

The chiefs of the two companies (Sanjeev Gupta of Coke and Rajiv Bakshi of Pepsi) stated that their companies operated within European and American norms with ‘top grade testing and top grade products’. They said that their companies conducted testing at every stage regularly.

But the damage had been done. While newspaper readers learnt the ‘shocking news’ with their morning cup of tea, pandemonium erupted in Parliament that resulted in cold drinks being banned in the canteen in Parliament House. While Chairman of the Catering Committee E. Ahmed ordered immediate banning of soft drinks, other Lok Sabha members demaded that they be banned through the country. Union Health Minister Sushama Swaraj tried to assuage the anger of the members with the assurance that she had already ordered a comprehensive inquiry into the reports.

For members of the Lok Sabha, the Sunita Narain report provided them a good stick to hammer the MNCs with. They made the most vehement criticism against the MNCs manufacturing the tested cold drinks and said these companies were not only looting the country but also endangering the health of the people by selling adulterated cold drinks.

The furore that erupted in Parliament overflowed in to the public domain. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s health department was the first to seize the bottles of soft drinks manufactured by Coca Cola India and Pepsi Co India. Earlier, mayor Pradeep Ghosh lead a delegation of health department officials and raided Kwality restaurant on Park Street. Samples of bottles had been taken for testing.

In Kerala the State Pollution Board opened up another front by confirming the presence of carcinogens in the sludge waste the Coca Cola was distributing free of cost to local farmers as fertilisers. The firm’s factory in Palakkad district had been the object of complaints that it was overdrawing groundwater and also using contaminated groundwater. A news channel put out a report saying that the sludge left as a by-product of its manufacturing process was contaminated with heavy metal residues well beyond the legal limits allowed.

In Delhi, residents seemed to be scared of imbibing cold drinks. Sales dropped drastically and many schools removed their cola-vending machines. One wag came up with the slogan ‘it’s a choice between rum and coke or run or choke’. However, the story at McDonald's was different. Sales rather zoomed because the management announced that they did not serve bottled cold drinks at their outlets. ‘We get the concentrate from Coke and use our own water at the vending-machines’.