Pepsicide controversy…

I recently found this article in Business week on Pepsi and its challenges in India given the “Pesticide controversy”. For those who are not familiar with the issue, please read this article at:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_24/b4038064.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

The article appears to be highly patronizing towards Cola firms especially Pepsi.
There are a few aspects of this issue that I want to do a balanced analysis on:

1. How healthy are these drinks, irrespective of whether they have pesticide content or not.
2. How good is the quality of water we consume in India?
3. Is it enough to expose the pesticide content in these large cola offerings? What are the results when tested on “staple” drinks such as water, milk, fruit juices, and other bottled drinks in India?
4. What are our awareness levels on these topics?
   

My contention is that aerated / carbonated drinks are unhealthy in the first place. It is fairly well known that they have no nutritious value and tat regular consumption has long term health effects. While the West is fairly aware of these and the harmful effects of the fast food that goes with these drinks, the same cannot be said about India. Thus, India serves as huge growth market for these firms given the high levels of education on health in the west may lead to a drop in cola consumption.

This leaves them in a position to go all out and attack the Indian market with expensive ad campaigns, sponsorships, but with zero or very little education on the effects of consumption of their products.

This should not however, divert attention from the fact the quality of water and other drinks we consume are abysmal. We have no clue how good the water used in restaurants, juice and coffee shops is, and we consume more from here than from the cola majors. This leaves us exposed, unknowingly to tremendous health hazards. So while a fruit juice is a healthier alternative to Pepsi, we have no idea how good the water used is.

This is where institutes like the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), and its activists like Sunita Narain, need to play a much more critical role. Granted the scope is big and the challenged are enormous, but they should not be content with “exposing” the cola majors.

Our awareness levels when it comes to health and environment are painfully low, predominantly due to lack of quality education, and the lack of pro active messaging from the media. For all you know, there must already be reports from CSE on other drinks, that are never publicized, simple because it’s not as good a story as a Sunita Narain vs. Indra Nooyi one.

Unless we have increased awareness levels through multiple channels, we continue to kill ourselves silently.