The Hindu : National : No clean chit: Anbumani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006

National

National

No clean chit: Anbumani

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday denied having given a ``clean chit'' to the cola companies.

Talking to The Hindu , Dr. Ramadoss said he told Parliament on Tuesday that the Centre for Science and Environment report on pesticide residues in the soft drinks was ``neither right nor wrong but inconclusive.'' He threatened to file a defamation suit against CSE director Sunita Narain for going public and charging him with ``colluding'' with the cola companies.

According to Dr. Ramadoss, the Ministry had sought more details about the report from the CSE and he had even invited Ms. Narain and her team to meet Health Ministry experts to discuss the issue of pesticides.

The Minister said colas and junk food were a major problem in the country. Pesticides was a short-term issue compared to the major health issues connected with colas and junk food.

The final test results of the 214 cola samples lifted from across the country were yet to come, while preliminary results had shown that the presence of pesticide residues was below the permissible level.

An additional 300 samples were being randomly lifted for testing to arrive at a final conclusion, Dr. Ramadoss said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News Update

Stories in this Section