BANGALORE: The Government has banned the sale of 12 brands of soft drinks, including Pepsi and Coca-Cola, in educational institutions and hospitals in the State from August 14.

Karnataka has joined some of the other States in taking the decision, acting on the report by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment that soft drinks contained high levels of pesticide residues.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Health Minister R. Ashok and Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S. Horatti said the sale of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Mirinda, Mirinda Lemon, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Blue, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Thums Up and 7Up would not be allowed within 100 feet of all schools, colleges, hospitals, government offices and canteens.

They would not be served during government programmes, he said.

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have already banned the sale of soft drinks in educational institutions, government offices and canteens.

The sale will be banned on the premises of all the 16 major government hospitals in Bangalore city, 27 district and 176 taluk hospitals, 301 community health centres and 1,679 primary health centres.

Junk food

Mr. Ashok said the State had sought the Centre's opinion on slapping a ban on the sale of soft drinks.

Junk foods such as pizzas and burgers had also come under the government scanner.

Mr. Ashok said the Department of Health and family Welfare would take a decision on the ban on junk food within 15 days. "We are collecting samples from different places and testing them. We will decide shortly," he said.

Analysis

An analysis of soft drinks at a laboratory indicated that they contained chemicals and pesticides such as linadane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos in higher quantities than the stipulated norms. , he said

The tests carried out on the bottles kept for sale in Bangalore revealed that soft drinks contained 20 to 25 per cent more than the safe limit of pesticide residues, he said.

"The drinks are unsafe because the pesticide residues detected are way above the standards," Mr. Ashok said.

Health hazards

The Government had decided to ban the sale of soft drinks to protect the health of the public, particularly children.

The soft drinks in question could cause cancer and malfunctioning of the kidney and liver, the Ministers said.

Various non-governmental organisations and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parsihad had been demanding a ban on the sale of these brands.

Cases to be filed

Mr. Ashok said cases would be filed against the soft drink manufacturing firms under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

There were reports that packaged drinking water of various brands too contained high levels of DDT in them and action would be initiated against the manufacturers, the Health Minister added.

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