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Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Coke, Pepsi, and pesticide
Arjun Swarup makes an impressive debut on the Indian Economy Blog with a post titled "Cola Con," in which he points out:
On that note, I'm off to get a cup of coffee. 190,000 times is fine by me, and perfectly safe; 24 is certainly much ado about nothing. For once, I say with bemusement, I agree with Shah Rukh Khan.
Update: "I want my DDT," says Gautam John.
Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, one plant says to me, "Hey, useless blogger, pour some Coke on me, please."
"Are you fricking mad," I say. "And aren't you a plant? Plants aren't supposed to talk."
"Fug off," said the plant. "I don't take shit from bloggers. Quickly come and pour some Coke on me."
So I go and pour some Coke on the plant. Then I sit back down and think about what to blog. Then the plant pipes in: "Hey, this is no good. All that talk about pesticide in Coke, just hype, there's hardly any. Certainly not enough to harm you, much as I wish that would happen. Pour some of your coffee on me, please."
So I pour some coffee on the spoilt scoundrel. "Ah," it says. "That's better. Way more pesticide. Thank you, and go away until I call again."
There is massive, widespread adulteration in virtually every food item consumed today in India. The levels of pesticide in coffee is 190,000 times, and in apples, 100,000 times, according to some estimates. By contrast, the levels in colas are twenty-four times [emphasis in original].Read the full post. I agree with Arjun's conclusion that this whole controversy is "a cocktail of politics, psuedo science, posturing and bad economics."
On that note, I'm off to get a cup of coffee. 190,000 times is fine by me, and perfectly safe; 24 is certainly much ado about nothing. For once, I say with bemusement, I agree with Shah Rukh Khan.
Update: "I want my DDT," says Gautam John.
Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, one plant says to me, "Hey, useless blogger, pour some Coke on me, please."
"Are you fricking mad," I say. "And aren't you a plant? Plants aren't supposed to talk."
"Fug off," said the plant. "I don't take shit from bloggers. Quickly come and pour some Coke on me."
So I go and pour some Coke on the plant. Then I sit back down and think about what to blog. Then the plant pipes in: "Hey, this is no good. All that talk about pesticide in Coke, just hype, there's hardly any. Certainly not enough to harm you, much as I wish that would happen. Pour some of your coffee on me, please."
So I pour some coffee on the spoilt scoundrel. "Ah," it says. "That's better. Way more pesticide. Thank you, and go away until I call again."
