Thursday, October 27, 2005

Follow-up: Coca-Cola in India

Ever since seeing this story about a Coke bottling plant in India distributing toxic cadmium and lead laden sludge to local villagers as "free fertilizer" I've wondered what other questionable Coke actions in India might be uncovered if we had a press in this country that actually cared to investigate such matters.

So I looked into one of the few sights that might care - CorpWatch - and find that they have a Take Action Against Coke page which reveals, among other things, that Coke products in India contained (in 2003 when tested) unusually high levels of pesticide (Pepsi tested high, too.)

And over at Coke Columbia, union leaders at local bottling plants were killed and tortured by "paramilitary squads working in collusion with factory managers and the government." When a suit was brought charges against Coke were dismissed, but charges for the bottling plant, gov't and paramilitary groups were not.

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