Fearless researchers nail two big, bad American multinationals selling toxic soda to India's masses? Get Bollywood on the line! Unfortunately for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, this scenario isn't a film pitch.
An anti-corporate lynch mob has pursued the pair of soda makers since Aug. 9, when a New Delhi environmental group released data purporting to show their soft drinks contain levels of pesticides that greatly exceed proposed Indian safety standards. In response, several Indian states banned sales of Coke and Pepsi.
If the companies have been negligent, of course, they deserve to be punished. But so far it appears that they have been singled out because they are foreign-owned. No Indian soft drink makers have been tested for similar violations, even though many people believe that pesticide levels are even higher in Indian-made milk and bottled tea.
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And while pesticide residues are present in virtually all groundwater in India, New Delhi has largely ignored the problem. "We are continuously challenged because of who we are," says Atul Singh, CEO of Coca-Cola India.
About standards
It's nothing personal, counters Sunita Narain, director of the Center for Science & Environment, the group that published the pesticide data. The CSE made the charges simply because the duo "violated safety standards in India."
Narain's protestations notwithstanding, it sure looks like India -- where all those American software and back office jobs go once they're "Bangalorized" -- is having its own xenophobic moment. Some members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have called for a nationwide ban on Pepsi and Coke. And BJP party activists have smashed bottles and staged mock funerals to express their outrage.
The whole affair is bad for India. Sure, the economy has been growing at 8%-plus over the last three years. But much of that expansion has been fueled by the vibrant information technology and
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