The findings of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that the top 12 soft drink brands of Coca-Cola and Pepsi contained pesticides and insecticides far in excess of the limits has drawn the attention of the Andhra Pradesh government.
The state health minister, K Siva Prasada Rao, today held a review meeting with the senior officials of the health department and instructed them to collect soft drink samples on random basis across the state.
The samples will be sent for testing at independent testing laboratories. "If we find anything wrong in these tests, we will initiate action", the minister said at the meeting.
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The minister also instructed the department to equip the testing lab of the state-owned Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) with the modern testing equipment to deal with the situation whenever it arises.
The soft drinks market in Andhra Pradesh is estimated to be around Rs 700 crore, of which about 50 per cent will be recorded in just 4 months from March to June.
"The report of the CSE has a negligible impact on the sales of soft drinks in the state. Sales are anyway at very low levels at present since July and August being the rainy months", a representative of the industry said.