Despite a clear directive from the Rajasthan high court two years ago, which the Supreme Court refused to stay, soft drinks companies are still not keen to disclose the contents of their products on the labels. To make matters worse for consumers, the Government is also not pushing the companies to make the move mandatory. Making its reluctance obvious, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its reply to a PIL in the apex court on Friday said, “Giving level of contaminants is not the international practice nor has it been prescribed by Codex.”The petition filed by an NGO—the Centre for PIL—through its advocate Prashant Bhushan, sought directions to cola companies for mandatory disclosure of contents and quality on the labels of soft drinks, besides putting an end to misleading ads by these companies targeting the young.On May 15, a Bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Dalveer Bhandari had directed the Government to consider the NGO’s recommendations seeking setting up of a regulatory mechanism for soft drink products in the country. In compliance of this, the Ministry furnished its response on Friday to the advocate, who in turn will place his views before the court on the next date of hearing.The PIL had highlighted the prime facie need for an exhaustive study to be carried out by experts in the larger interest of public health, despite the findings by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the harmful effects of the contents of soft drinks. The JPC was constituted to examine the pesticide content in the water used in such drinks following a report by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE). Another panel set up on the Court directions — the Ganguly Committee — also recommended an independent cell for risk analysis.
