08-24-2006, 01:23 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Three cheers </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Send dubious NGOs packing
The statement of Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss seeking to clear the pesticide controversy in cola drinks must be seen in its proper perspective. It is nobody's case to argue that groundwater which softdrink manufacturers use is unpolluted. In fact, groundwater is contaminated. The same water goes into producing rice; but how many NGOs have come forward demanding a ban on cereals and related products? The separation of pesticide residue from water in the pre-treatment stage is a process that is constantly undergoing improvement. The cola companies have their reputations to protect and, while this is not to a hold a brief for them, their claims about conforming to international standards have to be taken at their face value. <b>The disturbing bit of news is that certain dubious NGOs would prefer the imposition of 'national standards' - as decided by them - which would ostensibly be a notch higher even than the global ones. While this sounds glib and enticing, one must guard against its flip side</b>. For, whenever national food safety standards are over-emphasised, they end up creating non-tariff barriers to imports and free trade. During the Uruguay Round, the Western benefactors of sundry desi NGOs tried to drum up a campaign on the necessity of protecting consumers from harmful foods from 'ecologically unsafe' places which might flood the international market as a result of the 'dumbing down' of safety standards. GATT's decision to revive Codex Alimentarius - an international benchmark agreed upon by Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation - was condemned by the so-called green brigade. Perhaps the failure of their attempts led to the realisation that better results would accrue if such campaigns were started in developing countries. Thus, one saw a flurry of protests in European capitals against made-in-India carpets and American ban on Darjeeling tea. Now, in a curious inverse cycle, cola plants are being targeted. Why, indeed, this belated interest in aerated water when there are so many other instances of pesticide invasion? Does the Centre for Science and Environment - the exemplar of what ails the Indian NGO movement - want Indians to glow with health, drinking water from the Arctic ice-caps?
Finally, it's about time the Government set national benchmarks for such tests instead of allowing hysterical NGOs to cloud the issues and confuse the people. The trend of individual State Governments taking their own stand on colas is ludicrous, and this must be made to stop. <b>If people in Marxist West Bengal can drink colas to their health, there is no reason why their comrades in Kerala must buy the same stuff in black market. Tens of thousands of people who make a living from the cola industry in different parts of the country would be ruined by a handful for whom aid is more important than trade</b>.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Send dubious NGOs packing
The statement of Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss seeking to clear the pesticide controversy in cola drinks must be seen in its proper perspective. It is nobody's case to argue that groundwater which softdrink manufacturers use is unpolluted. In fact, groundwater is contaminated. The same water goes into producing rice; but how many NGOs have come forward demanding a ban on cereals and related products? The separation of pesticide residue from water in the pre-treatment stage is a process that is constantly undergoing improvement. The cola companies have their reputations to protect and, while this is not to a hold a brief for them, their claims about conforming to international standards have to be taken at their face value. <b>The disturbing bit of news is that certain dubious NGOs would prefer the imposition of 'national standards' - as decided by them - which would ostensibly be a notch higher even than the global ones. While this sounds glib and enticing, one must guard against its flip side</b>. For, whenever national food safety standards are over-emphasised, they end up creating non-tariff barriers to imports and free trade. During the Uruguay Round, the Western benefactors of sundry desi NGOs tried to drum up a campaign on the necessity of protecting consumers from harmful foods from 'ecologically unsafe' places which might flood the international market as a result of the 'dumbing down' of safety standards. GATT's decision to revive Codex Alimentarius - an international benchmark agreed upon by Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation - was condemned by the so-called green brigade. Perhaps the failure of their attempts led to the realisation that better results would accrue if such campaigns were started in developing countries. Thus, one saw a flurry of protests in European capitals against made-in-India carpets and American ban on Darjeeling tea. Now, in a curious inverse cycle, cola plants are being targeted. Why, indeed, this belated interest in aerated water when there are so many other instances of pesticide invasion? Does the Centre for Science and Environment - the exemplar of what ails the Indian NGO movement - want Indians to glow with health, drinking water from the Arctic ice-caps?
Finally, it's about time the Government set national benchmarks for such tests instead of allowing hysterical NGOs to cloud the issues and confuse the people. The trend of individual State Governments taking their own stand on colas is ludicrous, and this must be made to stop. <b>If people in Marxist West Bengal can drink colas to their health, there is no reason why their comrades in Kerala must buy the same stuff in black market. Tens of thousands of people who make a living from the cola industry in different parts of the country would be ruined by a handful for whom aid is more important than trade</b>.
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