Red wrath for Coke in green Kerala

Greenpeace wants the Coc
06 August 2003

Kochi: Coke is facing a tough time in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Greenpeace, an international forum of environmental activists, has urged the Kerala government to close down the Coca-Cola bottling plant at Plachimada, in Palakkad district, for the "criminal cheating" it had indulged in by passing on to the farmers of the area "toxic wastes" in the guise of fertiliser.

Ameer Shahul, the corporate campaign coordinator of Greenpeace, on Monday met top government authorities to present the findings of a laboratory analysis conducted at the Exeter University in the UK showing the presence of "dangerous" levels of heavy metals in the sludge samples collected from Plachimada. The company has been distributing this sludge among the local farmers as fertiliser for the last three years.

Shahul says Greenpeace too was associated with the analysis of the sludge and water samples collected from Plachimada by the Face the Facts programme presenter of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), John Waite, in July this year as part of an investigation into complaints against the bottling plant. Greenpeace has a team of nine scientists at the Exeter University ready to vouchsafe for the veracity of the findings.

On 25 July, the BBC had reported the presence of "unacceptable" levels of cadmium and lead in the sludge and water samples collected from Plachimada. Cadmium is a known carcinogen and lead, a metal that can affect the central nervous system. Quoting experts, the BBC had reported that "the results have devastating consequences for those living near the areas where this waste has been dumped and for thousands who depend on crops produced in these fields."

Giving the details of the inorganic analytical results, Shahul says the samples collected from Plachimada contained 100-microgram cadmium and 1,100mg lead per kg of dry sludge. The other elements detected in the sludge included 4,000mg aluminium, 190mg chromium, 90mg copper, 10,000mg iron, 63mg manganese, 33mg nickel, 1,580mg phosphorus and 680mg zinc per kg.

The water samples contained 65.7mg of lead and more than 10mg of cadmium per litre. The other elements reported were 8,600mg aluminium, 36mg chromium, more than 30mg copper, 16,200mg iron, 987mg manganese, more than 30mg nickel, 623mg phosphorous and 135mg zinc per litre.