pesticides are a clear & present danger

Consumers have won a major victory in the Supreme Court decision that makes it mandatory for cola firms to reveals the details of their contents. In particular the court’s ruling will go a long way in making public the exact amounts of pesticides in an aerated beverage. Given the fact that a large majority of consumers are children, the publication of information on labels will ensure that at least they become more aware of what they are consuming.
The court up held an earlier order of the Rajasthan high court which the cola majors wanted quashed. However the court has a given breather to the cola majors in not forcing any contempt of court proceedings. The cola majors had not carried such details on their labels following the earlier high court order.
The triumph for consumers however is to be seen in a context. The fact is that in India today everything from vegetables by the any the road side vendor, to milk available at the friendly neighborhood dairy is laced with pesticides. Ground water pollution too is a big worry.
That it took a court decision for this to be implemented rather than a state law is in it worrying. In India ever since the green revolution, Growth in food productivity has been accompanied by an enormous dose of pesticides. In India implementation of food and drugs administrations rules is notoriously lax. It is this that needs to be tightened. For water alone India has two laws one from 1974 that addresses water pollution and another from 1990 that address environment protection. However their implementation has been tardy
Urgent attention is needed to address larger issues of pollution. The yamuna in Delhi is the starkest example. While there is water treatment plants on the river the water has become so polluted now that even these are not enough to treat the water body of affluent. According to a TERI, and environment consultancy, a whopping 6000 million have been spent on the Yamnua alone - with no results to show in terms of controlling pollution. If this is the case with a major river one can only estimate the state of smaller water bodies and ground water in other parts of India.India must learn from China, where rampant industrialization has caused poisoning of as much as 40 % of its water bodies. It is all very well to single out high profile companies and make them accountable for pesticides in their wares - but without ensuring higher environment standards and compliance to laws already in place, the Indian consumer is doomed to leave in poisoned envir