PHA-Exchange> Coca-Cola in India Accused of Poisoning Lands- Report from TheGuardian

[claudio]

Coca-Cola in India Accused of Poisoning Lands
(http://www.corpwatchindia.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=4685)

By Paul Brown
The Guardian
July 25, 2003


The largest Coca-Cola plant in India is being accused of putting thousands
of farmers out of work by draining the water that feeds their wells, and
poisoning the land with waste sludge that the company claims is fertiliser.
The plant in the southern state of Kerala is designed to satisfy the demand
for Coke in what has become the multinational company's fastest growing
market.

But its huge demand for water is causing such damage to the local economy
that the village council which had granted the company a licence to operate
is now demanding the plant's closure.

So desperate have the nearest villagers become for water since their wells
dried up that Coca-Cola sends water tankers round every morning to supply
minimum needs.

The company denies the shortages have anything to do with its use of up to
1m litres of water a day from the underground aquifer that used to keep the
wells topped up.

The charity ActionAid says the crisis facing the once prosperous farming
area is an example of the worst kind of inward investment by multinational
companies in developing countries.

In a report to the World Trade Organisation's meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in
September the charity says this kind of abuse must be controlled.

The report says Plachimada was a thriving agricultural community until
Coca-Cola set up the bottling plant in 1998. Coconut groves and vegetable
crops have had to be abandoned because of the lack of water.

ActionAid says thousands of people worked on the land but now just 141 are
employed at the plant, with a further 250 as casual labourers. Peaceful
sit-in protests have been going on for more than four months. In a hut
outside the plant a large Coca-Cola bottle is kept in a coffin.

In a report today on Radio 4's Face the Facts programme details of the
contaminants in the sludge Coca-Cola sells as fertiliser, gives away, or
sometimes dumps in dry riverbeds are revealed for the first time.

Samples taken in India and analysed by Exeter University show high levels of
lead and cadmium in the sludge.

Lead is particularly bad for children, affecting their nervous system, and
cadmium is taken up by plants, is toxic to the kidneys and liver and can
cause cancer.

The report by David Santillo says: "Repeated applications of sludge,
containing these sorts of levels of cadmium and lead, to agricultural soils
would undoubtedly lead to a build-up of these toxic metals in the soil, from
where cadmium could then be transferred to plants _ and therefore into the
food chain.

"This contaminated sludge sample also contained a high component of
phosphorus, presumably the reason for its promotion as a fertiliser.

However, the presence of high levels of cadmium and lead in the sludge make
it completely unsuitable for use as a fertiliser."

Sunil Gupta, vice-president of Coca-Cola India, says the company has been
the target of a handful of extremist protesters and it is lack of rainfall
that has caused local water supplies to be exhausted. The company claims to
use a maximum of 600,000 litres a day.

Mr Gupta also says Coca-Cola undertook an environmental impact assessment
before building the plant, but has declined to make one available.

He stood by the claim that the sludge waste from the plant was fertiliser
and said the company complied with all local environmental laws and stood
for the welfare of the community.

So far attempts by the local council to shut the plant have failed. An order
by the Perumatty village council cancelling the company's licence to
operate, on the grounds that the bottling plant was over-exploiting the
water resources, was overruled by the Kerala high court last month.

Message forwarded by:

Dr.Unnikrishnan PV, India : E-mail: unnikru at yahoo.com / Ph (M): +91 (0)
98450 91319


30,000 children will die in the next 24 hours from preventable diseases.
Click www.TheMillionSignatureCampaign.org  , to join a campaign that demands
HEALTH FOR ALL NOW !