"I dont know which side to take but the govt must do something about it....." Ended Barkha Dutt on "we the people" talk show on NDTV yesterday featuring the "Pesticide in Cola" controversy.
I think most people would echo her words in this controversy. Its too complicated for the common man to comment anyway - what with technical standards who themsleves are challenged, talks about Carcinogens and Water impurities......
I generally dont drink Cola by itself. I am a fitness fanatic and prefer my cuppa of tea or the carcinogenic Coffee. (Term i picked from this controversy). Now they tell me the cola has pesticides but the coffee is much more dangerous. Now dont tell me I should quit coffee tooo??? Well just day before someone also told me that Paneer is dangerous for the heart.... bad cholestrol or something... so I told my Punjabi wife about it and she said "well good, from now on You shall not get It...." Its only a day later did I realise that the "IT" in the sentence meant "any food".......
Anyway I dont want to drag my personal problems in this already hot controversy. Now i wonder why does it have to be Cola?... If I understand it properly the cola war is about cola's having pesticides in quantams higher than "Some" Standard (which by the way is itself controversial).... However the excess is itself in PPM (parts per million) why not oppose the cigarrates of these world. which are harmful as a whole? Why not ban them as promptly as the govt. of MP and Gujarat banned Colas? I am sure more poison sticks are sold than Colas and they have a faster effect than colas?
I remember someone asking a similar question on the NDTV show but he was silenced by Barkha dutt by saying that "Just because bigger evils are not banned cannot be a justification for not banning smaller evils". DO You agree?? I dont. I smell a rat here. WHy go behind Cola companies who would want to guard their image and pay compensations vs going for Smoke companies who would agree readily to their ill effects? Why I say?
Anyway... I think all this boils down to one question.. the question of choice. I as an indiviual should be made aware of what the world thinks to be right and wrong.. but the choice of what I want to do must be left to me.. as long as I dont harm anyone else in the process.
Colas are bad for health.. You dont need a Nutritionist to tell u that, But so is Liquor, Paneer, Ghee, Or for that matter 80% of anything and everything that tastes good. So what.... I always have a choice to go for them.....why force everyone to be a fitness freak?
Anyway, You shall find enough blogs with diff opinions on this all I want to ask as a layman is a simple question. I generally drink cola in some form only to mix my drinks. All i want to know is does mixing pesticide ridden cola make my Vodka and Rum dangerous tooo or does the bad effect sof alcohol negate them?.....;-) hic hic
4 comments:
Do you think taht those who drink cola today would really defer from doing so in case you write 15 utterly technical names like - defampicine, terrahydrochlric acetimine-- in the contents list?
And for that matter the contents which are used are written... sugar,water and permitted flavours. Now if you want the chemicals formed due to combination of the base elements in that case why not have the same rules applied for Apples and Oranges or for that matter Coffee?
Sammy,
I feel that govt can do a lot to discourage smokers just like it might do its bit to inhibit the sale of coke and all such aerated drinks in the future.And the first step towards that,could be perhaps, making it costlier than what it is now.
In US,a packet of cigeratte would cost you nothing less than 6$ (or 4$ for an Indian brand),so you can very well imagine,how concerned the US govt is for their citizens.I think,the Indian govt still needs to learn a lot from other countries and keep its personal gains on the backburner for sometime,if it really wants the citizens to benefit.
During my bachelor days, I was adviced to drink Pepsi and Coke often. The logic was since I used to eat in hotels, it would be helpful in cleansing the stomach.
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