Is it safe to drink Pepsi or koke ?

Question

is it really safe to drink pespi or koke, when u hear so much about the bad ingrediants ?

some say DDT some say pesticides

wats goin on

wat is the government doin?

wat is consumer court doin ?

either ban them or just 4get them ?

wat say ?

Answer 1

Pesticola & CSE; Consumers lose Round-1, Casualty- Food Safety.

Last week has been witness to a massive debate across the country on the presence of Pesticide in Soft Drinks. A welcome debate which needs to culminate in setting up of a food safety standard covering all aspects of the Food and Beverage categories, including the most commonly consumed municipality and public water supply systems. After all it’s the taxpayer money being used in public water supply systems, and the government and municipalities in various towns and cities are equally responsible just as the corporate bodies are.

While a large number of political parties, NGOs and local pressure groups are baying for the Cola Companies’ blood, it is also necessary to read between the lines and look at the implications of the numbers thrown out by CSE. Or is the government barking up the wrong tree and deviating attention from the main issue.

Sunita Narayan of the Centre of Science & Environment (CSE) claims that cola companies exceed the proposed norms (0.1 PPB – parts per billion) of pesticide presence allowed for potable drinking water, in it’s soft drink brands. Many, including CSE, are demanding this limit of 0.1 PPB, set for potable water, be set as the limit for soft drinks brands as well. Her claim is that any presence of pesticide beyond this limit can cause serious harm to the consumer’s health.

However, it will be interesting to know whether she has done similar tests on other food products, including packaged juices, milk, potable water, fruits and vegetables, etc. In case she has, should she come out with the results and raise the main issue related to public health? In case she has not, is there a hidden agenda, whatever it may be? This question needs to be thoroughly analyzed before coming to any conclusion.

As per tests conducted by the IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute), milk samples contained 25600 PPB of HCH and 6100 PPB of DDT. Sample tests on fruits showed it contained 6000 PPB of HCH, 3130 PPB of DDT, 2000 PPB of Malathion. Similarly, sample tests on vegetables showed similar high levels of pesticide. Most of these results are much higher than MRL (Maximum Residual Limit) allowed for the food categories a per PFA guidelines, and in some cases upto 256000 times higher than the pesticide levels of .1 PPB allowed for potable water.

The contention of Sunita Narayan is that pesticide limits may be allowed for nutritious food like milk and vegetables, but it becomes a poison when present beyond .1 PPB in soft drinks. Let’s look at an example; an average consumer in India drinks 2 litres of Soft drinks per year and 120 litres during his entire lifespan. A heavy drinker consumes upto 18 litres per annum and 1000 litres in his lifespan. The total pesticide content in soft drinks (at 0.1 PPB), consumed during the lifespan of a heavy soft drinks drinker will be just about 1% of the pesticide (just DDT, or HCH) present in 1 glass of milk. Is Sunita Narayan really concerned about public health? If yes, where are the results on tests done for milk, potable water, fruit juices, etc.

In fact, CSE may be doing a major harm to public health. With public ire directed towards the cola companies, and consumers turning to other beverage categories; packaged fruit juices, freshly squeezed roadside juices, flavored water manufactured by local fly by night operators, and even Litchi drinks from Bangladesh are selling like hot cakes. There are no tests done for any of these categories, and no regulation for most of these products. In this situation, if CSE was actually concerned about public health, it’s duty was to have a thorough investigation on all related food categories, before going to press, and driving out consumers from Soft Drinks to untested products.

As a conclusion, Sunita Narain has surely caught the right pulse, by targeting the MNC cola companies. But transparency and neutral approach is what would have given CSE the credibility and establish it as a crusader for public health. As for the cola companies, martyr-hood is not yet due till the complete picture is visible. As for the consumers, maybe Sunita Narain has given a justification to drink more of the know evil, after the initial dust settles down.

Answer 2

Well, like anything we eat or drink, the key, is moderation.
Sure, if you drink say, 2 12 packs a day, each day, for 10 years, you're going to be overweight, probably rot out your teeth, and be hyper all the time...as well, you're probably going to contract diabetes from the sugar intake....but the myth of DDT of Pesticides is just bad publicity....there's more pesticides in cigarettes.
I usually consume about 3-4 cans a day, of coke, pepsi, 7up or Rootbeer, and after that, i can alternate with water, milk, or juice....all depends on how hot i am, with the weather, or what i'm thirsty for.

Answer 3

I don understand.
I am totally with you jay.
They should really come to a conclusion.
People can die..... the whole human race can end.
It is so ridiculous. I never liked these cold drinks due to their high amount of gas. I find it difficult to gulp. Good that atleast now they are realizing. Why dont these pepsi and koke produsers give their drink to the farmers for pestisides. It is cheap for them too. Urhh... I am very annoyed, frustated and..... I don know what.
mein tang aa gayi hoo. I am telling in atleast my locality not to consume it. Government is very bad at its work. I want a better and a more organised government. I don think this is going to happen in this millenium.
Urhhh..... I am frustated.

Answer 4

Pepsi is considered safer. Coke is used to remove nuts and bolts that are rusted but honestly I have been drinking both all my life and am perfectly fine. DDT is bad stuff and shoud be band. The goverment is slow to remove things unless a ton of deaths occur. Consumer courts get burried trying to do it all.

Answer 5

It's safe in that it won't immediately kill you.

But it's clearly bad for you - bad for your body and for your health. It's loaded with sugar, which throws your body into disarray and can cause colon cancer; highly acidic, so not good for your teeth or your stomach or anything in between; and it's carbonated, which has been said to be bad for bones.

I don't think it's too bad in moderation - a couple of times a week at most. Stick to water and you'll be much better off. Your body will thank you for it, and you won't get as hungry as you normally do if you drink softdrinks.

Answer 6

1. Learn to spell (hello theres a spell checker)
2. The government dosent care probally! They just dont want us getting any fatter! Coke and Pepsi are fine to drink...other wise we would all be dead! DRINK ON!
3. Stop smoking that weed its gonna be the death of u not soda!

Answer 7

I've never heard that and I drink Coke all the time. I have heard that Splenda (in Diet drinks) is made similarly to DDT.

Answer 8

Why we all are waiting for the government to do, we all together can do it. Stop drinking these colas. why we drink it, when there is narial pani, fresh fruit juice, lassi, tea, cofee, chhas. These are all natural.

we must stop drinking/ eating processed food. Lets promise not to drink eat these.

Answer 9

Both are bad. But even the packaged drinking water would be equally bad. Not sure what is safe !!!

Answer 10

well, it is a known fact that someday, something will take you out of this world... coke-pepsi-eggs-bacon-fat-sugar-salt-fast food-etc-etc.. you get the picture... use moderation and try not to over indulge too much..just like cigarettes... if they are so bad... then ban them.. that's not going to happen.. sometimes i think the government makes some of this stuff up to try to scare the poop out of us..

Answer 11

you can drink both pepsi and koke. but beware of the date of the manufacture