Northern Indian State Bans Soft Drinks After Pepsi, Coke Get Toxic Labels
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer (AHN)-The northern Rajasthan state in India has banned the sale of soft drinks, as the country's highest court told the US beverage giants Pepsico and Coca-Cola to reveal the ingredients of their products. An administration spokesman said, "The ban will be in force in all educational institutes, including medical and technical colleges and universities and offenders would be punished." Arguing that soft drinks producers were required to print statutory warnings on their products, spokesman K. Tiwari tells AFP, "Manufacturers are required to print 'not only dangerous for human consumption, but also the quantity of the residues, if any, on each label.'" The Press Trust of India says the state legislative assembly of the northern state of Punjab also removed soft drinks from the menu of its lawmakers beginning Friday, with assembly Secretary Nachhattar Singh Mavi, saying, "The restriction will remain in force until the controversy regarding harmful ingredients in soft drinks is cleared." Federal MPs Thursday demanded a nationwide ban on Pepsi and Coke after the privately-funded Center for Science and Environment (CSE) said 11 drinks sold by the two US companies contained unacceptable doses of pesticides. Officials say a two-judge bench of India's Supreme Court gave the two firms a month to reveal the ingredients of their products, after a public lawsuit argued products so |
