It has been a bad 15 months for Coke and Pepsi. It started with the Indian Express breaking the news about ancient rocks in the Himalays being defaced with painted Coke & Pepsi signage. The upror that followed both nationally, and internationally – through the press, environmental agencies, and development groups – took some time to die down. Coke and Pepsi apologised and paid damages. This was in August 2002

The dust had no sooner settled than bottling plants of Coke and Pepsi admitted dumping toxic sludge in Kerala and West Bengal. They both claimed not me lord – initially, but since it was a BBC report and a University of Exeter research, they couldn’t really wriggle out of it. However, they both denied knowing how or where the sludge appeared from. This was in July ’03. Said a spokesman for Coke

“We are still confused. But one thing is sure, our cold drinks are absolutely safe and these metals cannot come from the actual beverage production line in any circumstances.”

No sooner than that had died down (and it hasn’t really died down, just hibernating), came the next blow. Centre for Environmental Studies– tested both Colas and found that in addition to the caffeine and the CO2, they had have a dozen other ingredients – all of it fertilizer. The shit truly hit the ceiling. Parents stopped buying it for their kids. kids stopped drinking it on their own. Afterall one’s idea of refreshment is not really a cocktail of organochlorine/organophosphorus and synthetic fertilizers.

Today, saw the publication of a scientifc study – the effect of continous cola intake on lab rats. The test was carried out on two control groups – one continously fed with cola and the other with coconut water. Surprise, Surprise…. the lab rats fed with coke came down with stomach ulcers, while those fed on coconut water fared much better – lower cholestoral and better heart performance. coke was unavailble for comment 🙂

With cold drinks like this who really needs chemical warfare?