Coke plant ordered shut in south India

[Judi Lynn]

22 August 2005

Coke plant ordered shut in south India


Plachimada: In a major setback for the Coca-Cola company, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board has ordered the company's bottling plant in south India to "stop production of all kinds of products with immediate effect."

The Coca-Cola company, in direct contravention of Indian laws, had resumed "trial" operations at its Plachimada bottling facility in southern India on August 8, 2005. The bottling plant, one of Coca-Cola's largest, has been shut down since March 2004 because of community opposition.

The community is experiencing severe water shortages and the groundwater and soil have been polluted - directly as a result of Coca-Cola's operations.
(snip)

The Coca-Cola company finds itself in deep trouble in India. Coca-Cola's sales have dropped 14% in the last quarter (April-June) in India, and the company is undergoing major reorganization in the country, including a change in the top leadership, in an effort to contain the growing opposition. The state government of Kerala recently announced that it will also challenge Coca-Cola's right to extract water from the common groundwater resource. The company also finds itself the target of local campaigns in at least three other communities, with literally tens of thousands of people mobilizing to challenge the company for creating severe water shortages and pollution.
(snip/...)

http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/117478/1/





Image view: Sit-in Outside Mehdiganj Coca-Cola Plant in India - November 2004

[wli]

1. chalk one up for anti-globalization

Excellent news. Now we need to shut down all the Coca-Cola plants in the US. Check their buyblue.org ratings.

Boycott Coca-Cola!!!

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Wal-Mart take heed

.
.
.

could be next . . .

[fasttense]

3. If they can't pollute uncontrollably and they can't take water from

the huddled masses, what is the use of putting a plant in India??? :sarcasm:

[tanyev]

4. Outrageous!

Some provincial authority presumes to have authority over an enormous global corporation? Why I oughtta....:rofl:

[donsu]

5. here's more: poisoned people with Cadmium in plant waste

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GH23Df02.html


In the end it was the "generosity" of Coca-Cola in distributing cadmium-laden waste sludge as "free fertilizer" to the tribes who live near the beverage giant's bottling plant in this remote Kerala village that proved to be its undoing. On Friday, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) ordered the plant shut down, much to the jubilation of tribal leaders and green activists who had focused more on the "water mining" activities of the plant rather than its production of toxic cadmium sludge.

"One way or another, this plant should be shut down and the management made to pay compensation for destroying our paddy fields, fooling us with fake fertilizer and drying out our wells," said Paru Amma, a tribal woman who lives in this once lush, water-abundant area. Chairman of the KSPCB, G Rajmohan, said the closure was ordered because the plant "does not have adequate waste treatment systems and toxic products from the plant were affecting drinking water in nearby villages" and that the plant "has also not provided drinking water in a satisfying manner to local residents".
-snip-
-------------------------------------


Coke first got in trouble using up all the ground water, then the people found out about the cadmium poisening.

what part of a coke drink held the cadmium?

and some american mothers put Coke in their baby's bottles.

[NYC]

39. Cadmium poisoning.

Cadmium is one of the few elements that has no constructive purpose in the human body. This element and solutions of its compounds are extremely toxic even in low concentrations, and will bioaccumulate in organisms and ecosystems.

Sources of exposure

In the 1950s and 1960s industrial exposure to Cadmium was high. But as the toxic effects of Cadmium became apparent, industrial limits on cadmium exposure have been reduced in most industrialized nations and many policy makers agree on the need to reduce exposure further. While working with cadmium it is important to do so under a fume hood to protect against dangerous fumes. Silver solder, for example, which contains cadmium, should be handled with care. Serious toxicity problems have resulted from long-term exposure to cadmium plating baths.

Buildup of cadmium levels in the water, air, and soil has been occurring particularly in industrial areas.

http://www.answers.com/topic/cadmium-poisoning

http://www.canoshweb.org/odp/html/cadmium.htm#p1a
Because of the wide variety of uses for cadmium, it is not possible to provide an exhaustive list. Industries are listed in order of potential exposures, from higher to lower.

...Cadmium is highly corrosion resistant, and is widely used to plate metal parts used in general industrial hardware as well as in the automotive, electronics, marine and aerospace industries. (As much as 35% of worldwide cadmium production is used in plating.) Cadmium plating is done by means of electroplating or mechanical plating operations. Plating may be done in independent industrial operations, or as an element of production in larger production facilities. OSHA reports that at mechanical plating operations, less than 10% of the
workforce is exposed to cadmium, though exposures tend to be higher than those in electroplating. During electroplating, plating operators and maintenance technicians are most likely to be exposed. Other chemical exposures which may contribute to health effects also occur in plating.

[meganmonkey]

6. When you f*ck with people's water

They get really pissed. As they should.

[alarcojon]

7. Support India Research Center

Here is a link to more of their work against Coca-Cola in India:

http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/index.html




Communities across India living around Coca-Cola's bottling plants are experiencing severe water shortages, directly as a result of Coca-Cola's massive extraction of water from the common groundwater resource. The wells have run dry and the hand water pumps do not work any more. Studies, including one by the Central Ground Water Board in India, have confirmed the significant depletion of the water table.


When the water is extracted from the common groundwater resource by digging deeper, the water smells and tastes strange. Coca-Cola has been indiscriminately discharging its waste water into the fields around its plant and sometimes into rivers, including the Ganges, in the area. The result has been that the groundwater has been polluted as well as the soil. Public health authorities have posted signs around wells and hand pumps advising the community that the water is unfit for human consumption.


In two communities, Plachimada and Mehdiganj, Coca-Cola was distributing its solid waste to farmers in the area as "fertilizer". Tests conducted by the BBC found cadmium and lead in the waste, effectively making the waste toxic waste. Coca-Cola stopped the practice of distributing its toxic waste only when ordered to do so by the state government.


Tests conducted by a variety of agencies, including the government of India, confirmed that Coca-Cola products contained high levels of pesticides, and as a result, the Parliament of India has banned the sale of Coca-Cola in its cafeteria. However, Coca-Cola not only continues to sell drinks laced with poisons in India (that could never be sold in the US and EU), it is also introducing new products in the Indian market. And as if selling drinks with DDT and other pesticides to Indians was not enough, one of Coca-Cola's latest bottling facilities to open in India, in Ballia, is located in an area with a severe contamination of arsenic in its groundwater.

[brentspeak]

8. Tom Friedman used Coke as his example why offshoring was "good"

He wrote some puff-piece a couple of years ago, and in it, attempted a ridiculous argument that offshoring was a good thing for the U.S. because he witnessed Indians purchasing such American brands as Coke-a-Cola. Therefore, he said, we can afford to lose tech jobs to India so that Indians can financially afford and be willing to buy American.

So I wonder how he'll explain this?

[cliss]

9. Great thread.

Thanks for posting. About 6 months ago, I read about a lot of popular opposition to this Coke plant. For a while, people were going to hold hands and completely surround the plant. They were upset about it back then.

Of course, why would Coke listen?

It's about time somebody took on these global parasites, who care absolutely NOTHING about the people who buy their products. It's suicidal, really.

[Karenina]

10. Ladies and gentleman I give you Exhibit A

in the continuing saga of what the fuck is wrong with us.

[Maple]

11. Of course you could be fair

and look at the other side

http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/viewpoints_india_situation.html

[Solon]

14. Read it, not impressed in the least...

At first, sounded great, now they are being investigated by the very governments, state and federal, that welcomed them in. Also, what is the total population in this state again, 450 jobs seems like a drop in the bucket I would think even if the boast of 10 "indirect" jobs are created with every one of these 450 employees is true. Also, what are the working conditions at the plant itself?

This sounds like the same bullcrap Wal*Mart puts about about it NOT really doing anything wrong with "forgetting" to pay overtime for workers and other illegal activities *cough*hiring illegals*cough*. Sorry, but the words of DEMOCRATIC governments are to be much more trusted than a private company who's only legal interest is the bottom line, look at the Charter of Coca-Cola Corporation to see what their only interest is.

[Maple]

15. I didn't expect you to be, actually

However the people in this province will just switch to Mecca cola. It's growing in popularity in the ME and Asia, and Coke will lose out. Of course, so will the US.

C'est la vie.

[hatrack]

26. What "other side"? What "other side" would that be?

They drained the water out of the wells, and then they gave cadmium-contaminated sewage sludge to poor farmers and lied about how good it would be for their crops.

There is no "other side". This is like breaking into somebody's house, burning it down and kneecapping the homeowner's daughter, but then expecting everyone to be impressed with just how magnanimous you are because you chipped in money to buy her a pair of crutches.

[Judi Lynn]

27. Thank you for your remarks. You rose so well to the occassion.

I was a little perplexed about the very reference to the "other side." Speechless. Sickened.

There's really not much you can say in favor of greedy, utterly disrespectful sociopaths.

[Maple]

28. The 'other side'

would be Coke obviously.

Little strange to condemn them without examining their side of the issue.

Do you always convict on half a story?

[hatrack]

30. I've read plenty of corporate boilerplate before

And I just got done reading this batch of corporate boilerplate.

"The 'sludge' or bio-solid is the end result of the waste water and water treatment processes and is made up of organic and inorganic material."

OK, what organic and inorganic materials? In what proportions? In what quantities in the Kerala case?

"The use of bio-solids as a soil amendment is not an uncommon practice around the world and within the Coca-Cola system, including in the US. We require that all of our plants, including in India, monitor generation, composition and management of the bio-solids that are a byproduct of our manufacturing operations."

Then would maybe some specifics on the content - chemical and biological and toxological and agricultural - wouldn't be too much to ask?

"For the avoidance of doubt, we have suspended land application and other disposal of the bio-solids until standard testing protocols are agreed and accepted by all constituents, and reliable analytical results are available for review."

Oh, so you didn't actually have any standard testing protocols in place before you started (so to speak) spreading this shit around? And there were no reliable analytical results available for review? Super.

"We are also talking to the Indian central government to ensure that the issue of a uniform and consistent national regulatory framework is given the full review that it deserves."

Great. You get back to us on that, OK?

[Maple]

31. If you had read

the rest of the thread you'd have come across the area's govt website. They are opening 41 more call centers this year.

Mecca cola is making inroads in many countries these days, and is heavily promoted as an alternative to Coke...the American drink.

India has it's own scientists, engineers, and software specialists, and their prosperous middle class alone is larger than the entire population of the US.

We're not exactly talking colonial oppressor here.

Coke wants to make money selling cold drinks in a hot country...they have no urge to shoot themselves in the foot either. Self-defeating.

[depakid]

32. Thank you

Now if only the filth that has polluted the so called "mainstream media" in America would get a clue and start telling the truth instead of searching for "balance" by quoting dishonest sources, people in this country might actually understand that: no- black isn't white, up isn't down, mercury poisoning isn't a joke- and to LIE does not mean "to mislead"

Not holding my breath.

[Judi Lynn]

12. I know so many DU'ers are aware of Coca Cola's lengthy history

of barbaric actions against the working people of Colombia, as well.

We've discussed them in depth here.

I just found something in a search you may want to look over, in case it seems appropriate:

Dear Ms. Billingsley and Ms. Soutus,

I'm writing to inform you that I am boycotting Coca-Cola products because of Coke's violation of human rights, undermining of public education, and environmental destruction. Coke's insatiable thirst for profit represents one of the worst examples of corporate greed and violence.

In Colombia, Coke bottlers have unleashed a brutal campaign to reduce labor costs. Plant managers maintain close relations with the right-wing paramilitaries that are threatening and murdering union leaders. Seven union leaders have been killed and 65 have received death threats. The bottlers have replaced union workers with temporary employees and contractors, many of whom earn just the minimum wage of $120 per month and don't receive benefits. The primary Coke bottler in Colombia shut down production at eleven of its plants in September 2003 and pressured 535 workers into "voluntarily resigning" from their contracts. In July 2004, that same bottler petitioned the Labor Ministry to revoke the union's statutes.

Instead of taking action to protect union workers in Colombia, Coke has chosen to spend money flying corporate representatives around the world in an attempt to defend the company's image. Coke has stated, "Colombia labor union SINALTRAINAL's oft-repeated allegations against the Coca-Cola Company and its Colombian bottling partners are completely false. They are nothing more than a shameless effort to generate publicity using the name of our company, its trademarks and brands." Does Coke believe that Isidro Segundo Gil was trying to "generate publicity" when he was shot to death by paramilitaries inside the Coke plant in Carepa?

In India, Coke has been accused of causing severe water shortages as a result of its bottling operations in Plachimada, Mehdiganj, and Thane. At a protest outside the Mehdiganj plant in November 2004, demonstrators were beaten up by police and more than 350 people were arrested.

In the U.S., Coke is taking advantage of the inadequate funding of public education by paying high schools and universities to promote and sell Coke products. The administration of the University of Montana has sacrificed its educational mission in exchange for $300,000 a year from Coke. The corporation has a monopoly for the sale of beverage products, can refer to itself as a "sponsor" of the university, and can use the university's name, teams, logos, and mascots in its advertising. Instead of fostering critical thinking, the university is promoting the thoughtless consumption of Coke.

I refuse to support the violation of human rights, environmental destruction, and the undermining of public education. I am boycotting Coke products, and I'm encouraging my friends and family to do the same.
(snip/)

http://www.caja.org/campaigns/coke/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This may not be one you want to bother with, but I'll bet there are TONS MORE available on the internet. I'll keep my eyes open.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/22/350_cokeprotest2304,0.jpg

These demonstrators from India and Colombia are undoubtedly too damned busy with their lives to be spending their time broadcasting lies about an American industry. Give DU'ers credit for a bit of intelligence.

[Judi Lynn]

13. More on this cancer hard at work exploiting the Indian people.

South Asia
Aug 23, 2005

Sludge dirt on Coca-Cola
By D Rajeev

.........Although the local people had begun protesting against their wells running dry months after the plant began operations, serious trouble for the company began a little more than two years ago when a local doctor declared the water still available in the wells unfit for consumption. In July 2003, a BBC Radio-4 report, after carrying out tests at the University of Exeter in Britain, pronounced the sludge as dangerously laden with heavy metals, especially cadmium and lead, and already contaminating the food chain. The sludge also had no value as fertilizer, the report said.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen which causes kidney damage while exposure to lead can lead to mental derangement and death, and is particularly dangerous for children causing them severe anemia and mental retardation. The BBC report quoted Professor John Henry, a leading toxicity expert and consultant at St Mary's Hospital in London, warn of "devastating consequences for those living near areas where this waste has been dumped and for the thousands who depend on crops produced in these fields".

In August 2003, the KSPCB ordered the plant to stop distributing sludge to farmers, but then its official, K V Indulal, charged with carrying out the investigations, unexpectedly announced that he found contamination levels "not beyond tolerable limits". Allegations of bribery and corruption by Coca-Cola followed and Indulal is presently under investigation by the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau, which carried out raids on his residence and properties spread across three Kerala cities earlier this month.

The Kerala High Court initially supported the Plachimada villagers and in a December 16, 2003 ruling, ordered Coca-Cola not to mine water through its deep bore wells but allowed the plant to draw water in amounts comparable to that normally used for agricultural or domestic purposes in the area. Coca-Cola approached the court after the panchayat (elected local body) canceled the plant's operating license for mining water and a single judge ruled that the state government had no right to allow a private party to extract large quantities of ground water which it deemed "property held by it (the government) in trust".
(snip/...)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GH23Df02.html

[Deja Q]

16. corporate arrogance. How very anti-christian of them.

x(

[Buns_of_Fire]

17. I'm still trying to figure out how in HELL you manage to

generate toxic sludge from a soft-drink bottling plant! :shrug:

[Maple]

18. Interesting point

[mom cat]

19. It's the real thing...resistance!

Things go better with water.

[Maple]

20. They're opening 41 more call centers this year

so I'm sure they can afford better than water.

http://www.kerala.gov.in/

[lovuian]

21. Corporations wake up India is going socialistic

the people have learned these corporations only think of profits and them screw the people!!!

[Maple]

29. India used to be socialist

But they left that behind, and they're booming now.

[0007]

22. It appears that there are a few here that may have stock in Coke

and are being very subjective.

[Maple]

23. Sorry, don't even drink it

:D but then I don't have stock in old socialist ideas either.

[0007]

24. .....a

((((((((((((((((((((((gong))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))


Are you bragging or complaining?

[struggle4progress]

25. Clean water is a major issue around the world. eom

[Judi Lynn]

33. Coca-Cola Threatens Top Indian Photographer with Lawsuit

This story concerns the great illustration in alarcojon's post #7:

Coca-Cola Threatens Top Indian Photographer with Lawsuit

For Immediate Release
July 12, 2005

Contact:
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center E: [e-mail]
T: [phone] (UK) [phone] (US)

London (July 12, 2005): The Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Atlanta based Coca-Cola company, has threatened Mr. Sharad Haksar, one of India's celebrated photographers, with a lawsuit.

Mr. Haksar, a leading international photographer and winner of the 2005 Cannes Silver Lion, has placed a large billboard in one of Chennai's busiest areas - one of India's largest cities - with his own "work (which) is solely an expression of creativity."

The billboard features the ubiquitous red Coca-Cola wall painting, commonly found across India. Directly preceding the Coca-Cola ad, and part of the billboard, is a dry water hand-pump, with empty vessels waiting to be filled up with water - a common scene in India, particularly in Chennai.

On July 11, 2005, the law firm of Daniel & Gladys, who represent Coca-Cola's Indian subsidiary, sent a letter to Mr. Haksar threatening him with serious legal actions unless the billboard was replaced 'unconditionally and immediately'. Coca-Cola would seek Indian Rupees 2 million (US$ 45,000) for "incalculable damage to the goodwill and reputation" of Coca-Cola, and also sought an 'unconditional apology in writing'.

Mr. Haksar said, "I have no intentions of issuing any apology. Because I have not committed anything wrong. If Coke pursues this legal course, my lawyers shall take appropriate counter action."

Mr. Haksar's billboard highlights the severe water shortages being experienced by communities that live around Coca-Cola's bottling plants across India. A community close to Chennai, in Gangaikondan, has already held large protests - protesting against an upcoming Coca-Cola plant. In the neighboring state of Kerala, in the village of Plachimada, Coca-Cola has been unable to open its bottling facility for the last 16 months - because the community will not allow it to.

Coca-Cola is in serious trouble in India. A massive rural movement has emerged to hold the company accountable for creating water shortages and polluting the remaining water and soil.

"We appreciate Mr. Haksar's efforts and we condemn Coca-Cola's attempts to silence a public discourse on the issues," said Amit Srivastava of the international campaigning organization, India Resource Center. The campaign continues to receive tremendous public support internationally and has put the Coca-Cola company on the defensive.
(snip/...)

http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2005/1077.html

[Maple]

34. And if Coke plants moved back 'home' to the US...?

You'd all be delighted to get a job there.

Let's be honest here...this is not a story about Coke deliberately harming any innocent Indian villagers.

This is a story about being anti-out-sourcing.

'Evil corporations' is just a convenient hook to hang them on.

Hmmmm?

[Judi Lynn]

35. Sorry, you're not saying anything I'd like to discuss.

I trust the people of India to know their situation before the arrival of Coca Cola, and its impact on their environment.

I'm not going to change my mind, nor am I going to defend my belief.
Don't believe you've shown any reason to imagine these people are liars.

I'll live with your support of Coca Cola comfortably. I've also seen your support of genetically engineered crops, and don't feel there's anything to discuss with you on that subject, either.

[Maple]

36. Well it's a funny old world

and it's entirely possible that a big company like Coke, with billions at stake, and a world wide image to protect, decided for some reason to sell these particular customers DDT and poison them.

It just seems a tad unlikely, don't you think?

[Judi Lynn]

37. Nope. n/t

[Maple]

38. LOL no of course not

It makes perfect sense to deliberately poison your customers.

Real future in that I'm sure.

[fujiyama]

44. Maybe your a little ignorant

of corporate malfesense considering your frequently an apologist for multinational corporations but yes corporations frequently sell tainted and poisoned goods, especially in developing countries.

Contrary to what you believe, corporations are not benign entities bringing jobs and saving the poor. But considering your dismissal of critics of globalization, I would expect nothing less from you.

You may return to your shilling.

[Judi Lynn]

40. Indian state pollution board issues closure notice to Coke bottling plant

Indian state pollution board issues closure notice to Coke bottling plant
Posted on : Sun, 21 Aug 2005 03:02:00 GMT | Author : Zipporah Koganowich
News Category : Business

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - The Coca-Cola Company has been ordered by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board to shut down its operations in Plachimada in Palakkad district in the south Indian state of Kerala. Coke, which ran a huge bottling operation in the area, was found to have violated the environmental norms by releasing sludge into the surrounding areas. This sludge contained dangerous chemicals, which could cause serious health issues in the local communities.

The KSPCB issued the closure notice to Vineeth Kumar Kapila, occupier, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited, and N Janardhan, the Plant Manager. The sludge that was discharged form the plant was found to contain cadmium in dangerous amounts. Coke was also found to be drawing excess groundwater than what was permitted. The community-governing center had passed a resolution not to renew Coke's license in 2003. The High Court of the state had also upheld this decision.

Citizens and non-profit organizations alike had fought the company all the way and their fight has now been vindicated. Water scarcity is a common problem in the Plachimada area. Coke compounded the woes of these people by drawing excess water form the ground. As far as the cadmium was concerned, some samples were found to contain around 600 percent the normal level of the dangerous chemical.

Clarifying the reasons behind their decision to ask Coke to shut the plant, G Raja Mohan, the President of Kerala State Pollution Control Board said, "In the waste water treatment sludges we have found contents of Cadmium abnormally high. It goes up to 600 percent above the permissible limit. In the ground water the content of Cadmium is not that much. So, there is something which they are using in the raw materials." He added that the company had not clarified their stand on the issue and hence this step had to be taken.
(snip/...)

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/3851.html

[Maple]

41. Um...that's what this whole thread was about

Check the beginning article

[Judi Lynn]

42. The Coca-Colanisation of India

The Coca-Colanisation of India (Part II)

For over a year and a half now the small village of Plachimada, located in Palakkad district of the Indian State of Kerala, has been on world headlines as the site of an ongoing struggle between one of the world’s biggest and best-known companies ­ Coca Cola ­ and a group of popular movements. The fight, on a literal level, is about who owns Plachimada's groundwater. But it is also, as we shall see, about much more.

In1998, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. (Coke’s Indian subsidiary) set up a bottling plant in Plachimada. The plant, Coke’s biggest in India, produces Maaza, Coke, and other soft drinks. One estimate said that the plant’s production ran to about 1.2 million drinks bottles a day. The plant employs between 70 and 150 permanent workers and approximately 200 contract labourers.

Producing such a large quantity of drinks requires a large quantity of water, especially for cleaning. A Kerala State Pollution Control Board estimate says that the company requires 1.5 million litres of water a day at peak production. To put this in some perspective, this means that the plant draws more than enough water to fill an Olympic size swimming pool every two days.

This enormous quantity of water is drawn primarily through eight wells within the company campus itself. The company plays approximately 7.75 paisa (a paisa is one hundredth of a rupee) to the local government per thousand litres of groundwater. Again, to put this in perspective, this translates into a cost of 1 pound for every 940,000 litres of water that the company draws. In addition, the company found an equally profitable way to dispose of its waste products: effluents and sludge from the cleaning process was initially sold to the local farmers as ‘fertilizer.’ Once the farmers realized this ‘fertilizer’ was useless, the company started giving it away for free, and eventually began secretly and illegally dumping it on roadsides near the factory.

In 2001 and early 2002, residents of Plachimada began noticing that something was going wrong with their wells. Water levels were falling and the water that did remain turned turbid upon boiling and tasted odd. Meanwhile, farmers in the area noticed that their paddy fields were failing unusually often, and the water levels in the fields were falling.
(snip/...)

http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/Solidarity%2012/coca-colanisation2.html

[Maple]

43. LOLOLOL