In India the public debate is yet to move from whether pesticides are dangerous to which pesticides are dangerous, and the burden of proof is yet to shift from the opponents of pesticide use to the chemicals' manufacturers.

In this context, it would be appropriate for the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) set up to probe allegations of pesticides in soft drinks, juices, iced tea, milk and milk products, liquor and bottled water to ensure that the burden of proof is on the producers of chemicals.
The JPC began its work in the wake of the report of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which had claimed that a high percentage of pesticide residues were present in Coca Cola, Pepsi and 10 other soft drink brands and it was harmful for health.

The threats of contamination of the food chain, cancer, genetic damage, the deaths of entire species, which are too frightening to ignore, has become a manifest reality. In India it is for the first time that there is a feeling of dire necessity to regulate industry stringently to protect health and environment. It is widely accepted that the only way to ensure safe environmental health is to make corporations accountable for their inexcusable ecological crimes.

The Government of India announced the constitution of a 15-member JPC to find out the veracity of reports of excessive pesticide residues in colas, and set safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages on August 22 in the backdrop of CSE’s findings and a case filed by Srishti, an environmental group in the Supreme Court which is seeking ban on the pesticides and insecticides in India, which have already been banned in the other countries among other things.

Sharad Pawar has been appointed as the chairman of the JPC. He got his appointment letter on August 30. The JPC was constituted by Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, which included ten Lok Sabha and five Rajya Sabha members. The committee is expected to submit its report by the beginning of the next session of Parliament.
The Lok Sabha members who are part of JPC include:
1. Sharad Pawar-NCP
2. Ananth Kumar (BJP)
3. and Sudha Yadav (BJP),
4. Ramesh Chennithala (Congress)
5. Avtar Singh Bhadana (Congress),
6. K Yerranaidu (TDP),
7. E Ahmed (IUML),
8. Ranjit Kumar Panja (Trinamool Congress),
9. Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party)
10. AnilBasu(CPI-M)

The Rajya Sabha members who are part of JPC include:
11. S S Ahluwalia (BJP),
12. Prithviraj Chauhan (Congress),
13. Sanjay Nirupam (Shiv Sena),
14. Prem Chand Gupta (RJD) and
15. Prasanta Chatterjee (CPI-M)
JPC has three Advisors:
1. Dr G. Thyagarajan, former Scientific Secretary, Committee on Science & Technology for Developing Countries,
2. Dr S.K. Khanna, former Director of the Lucknow-based Industrial Toxicology Research Institute, and
3. Dr N.K. Agnihotri, former Project Coordinator (Agricultural Chemicals), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa.

On August 31, 2003, Government of India issued a draft notification for revision of standards to regulate the presence of metals and pesticides in beverages.

The draft notification issued for public comment within a month proposes to extend the norms for pesticide residues in bottled water, which will come in force from January 1, 2004 for all kinds of beverages including soft drinks.
The draft proposed a limit of 0.0001 mg per litre individually and 0.0005 mg a litre collectively for pesticide residues. At present there are no such limits under prevention of food adulteration (PFA) rules, fruit products order and BIS standard for carbonated beverages.

The notification has stipulated more stringent limits for presence of heavy metals in all kinds of beverages. The standards for lead, for instance, have to be made 50 times tighter to 0.01 mg a litre from 0.5 mg per litre in line with the new norms for bottled water.

At its first meeting on 16 September 2003, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) decided to have three full-time advisors to guide the committee on the technical aspects of the issue.

The three scientists whose services have been elicited are Dr G. Thyagarajan, former Scientific Secretary, Committee on Science & Technology for Developing Countries and Commonwealth Science Council (which has contributed to the monitoring of pesticides in exportable commodities in South-East Asia), Dr S.K. Khanna, former Director of the Lucknow-based Industrial Toxicology Research Institute, and Dr N.K. Agnihotri, former Project Coordinator (Agricultural Chemicals), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa.

At this meeting JPC deliberated on the scope of its probe and is expected to suggest safety standards for ground water, one of the principal ingredients in the manufacture of all beverages. They witnessed presentations from two laboratories, Central Food Laboratory and Central Food Technological Research Institute, which had earlier tested the soft drink samples, besides the one from Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research chief R A Mashelkar on the testing methodology used for detection of pesticides.

The committee is likely to recommend setting up of an independent body for devising comprehensive safety guidelines. The committee invited ministries of health, food processing, agriculture and the Bureau of Indian Standards, besides Agricultural and processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) an autonomous organization attached to the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of India to give their views on October 9, 2003.

The JPC held its second meeting for two days on 9th October and 10th October 2003. On the first day, K.S. Money, the APEDA chairman gave a presentation on the standards being followed by the authority to the effect that APEDA was following strict standard norms for exports. In its presentation APEDA under the Commerce Ministry said adoption of the EU norms for fruit juices and beverages manufactured from the agriculture produce would adversely affect agricultural exports and consequently the farmers.

At this meeting the JPC questioned the health ministry for coming up with a draft notification for revision of standards to regulate the presence of metals and pesticides in beverages after the constitution of the JPC. The health ministry was asked why such a notification was necessary when the JPC was already constituted for the purpose.

The health ministry and food processing ministry suggested different standards on pesticides. While the health ministry said that it was following European Union norms for pesticides, the food-processing ministry contended that over 160 countries used Codex standards. The Commerce and Food Processing Ministries opposed EU norms before the JPC, on the plea that stricter norms would harm the agriculture sector.

A controversy has arisen due to Union health ministry’s draft notification on standards for ready-to-drink beverages. It is being said that there is allowance for objections till December 2003 before standards are finalised.

Sharad Pawar was critical of the fact that the health ministry did not consult the Central Committee for Food Standards or follow the process of field studies, risk assessment, analysis of food consumption patterns, soil and environment conditions. The procedure is that standards are fixed for the raw material, not the finished product. The ministry has since extended the date for objections to its draft, to December-end.

The APEDA informed that the EU was raising safety and hygiene standards to block exports but was more lenient with its own producers. The case of sugar was cited by officials: "EU standards for pesticide residues in beet sugar, their own produce, are upto five per cent while the limit for cane sugar, generally imported, is 0.85 per cent."

Notwithstanding the fact that EU often uses food standards as protectionist devices, the argument “pesticide use be allowed indiscriminately” to the detriment of our food chain is unsustainable also because in our country human life is valued less. Weaker Codex or WHO a standard is not sufficient because they don’t prescribe maximum pesticide residues for all pesticides used in India.

What is required is higher punitive measures through consumer protection legislation like the product liability laws in the USA should be recommended. If India is to indeed become a developed country, our standards must be one of developed country.

Tose who attended first day’s meeting included Sharad Pawar, E. Ahmed, Sanjay Nirupam, Prem Chand Gupta, Ramesh Chennithala, Prithviraj Chauhan and S.S. Ahluwalia.

On the second day, CSE deposed before the JPC. It made a presentation which broadly covered regulations prevailing worldwide for water and finished products and pesticide contamination in beverages. CSE was invited to ascertain the validity of its report. It also listened to the versions of other parties before prescribing any suitable safety standard for soft drinks, fruit drinks and other beverages containing water as ingredient. The committee is scheduled to meet again in October for their initial work. The JPC would reassemble in December 2003.

"The Health Ministry should not have issued the draft notification when the JPC has already been constituted for the purpose," said Pawar, briefing media on the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the committee.

The committee has also invited trade bodies like Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Indian Industry to present the views of the industry on the issue. The two apex chambers are expected to present their views to the parliamentary panel before on October 21, 2003.

The committee is unlikely to come up with a final set of recommendations of safety standards for soft drinks, juices and other beverages within the stipulated three months time and cannot be tabled in the Winter session of the parliament.