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Lab tests done by The Centre for Science and Environment in India have found large amounts of pesticides in various soft drinks.

The 2006 CSE study tests 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands, from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, spread over 12 states. The study finds pesticide residues in all samples; it finds a cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides in all samples �?? on an average 24 times higher than BIS norms, which have been finalised but not yet notified. The levels in some samples �?? for instance, Coca-Cola bought in Kolkata �?? exceeded the BIS standards by 140 times for the deadly pesticide Lindane. Similarly, a Coca-Cola sample manufactured in Thane contained the neurotoxin Chlorpyrifos, 200 times the standard. �??This is clearly unacceptable as we know that pesticides are tiny toxins and impact our bodies over time,�?� says Sunita Narain, director, CSE. [Soft Drinks Still Unsafe]

Following the report, the Supreme Court of India has asked Coke and Pepsi to reveal the chemical composition of their drinks and various states have restricted the sales of the drinks. The Communist liaison committee in Kerala has recommended to the State Govt. to issue a ban on the sales of Coke and Pepsi. The view of the Communists is that people should not be made to consume poison in the name of promoting Industries . Since this comes from the mouth of the folks who run Dinesh Beedi, it has more credibility. In one protest, Coke was poured down the throat of a donkey since  poisoning animals is perfectly fine.

This brings up the question on why there are so much pesticides in the soft drinks sold in India? Do Coke and Pepsi sold in other countries have high levels of pesticides? Is this targeting of multinationals revealing a bigger problem of contaminated ground water?

How the pesticides enter the drinks remains unclear. Indian farmers have used pesticides intensively for decades and there are detectable quantities of pesticide chemicals in the ground water, which enter many food products on sale. India has introduced guidelines for what are acceptable levels of pesticides for most products, but has yet to implement legislation regulating the soft drink industry.[Indian states restrict Coke and Pepsi sales]

If the amount of pesticide is high after filtering by the companies, how bad is the water, milk and various other products which public consume more than colas. In fact the CSE does not deny the allegation that milk and vegetables have more pesticides than the colas. Their explanation is that even though milk and vegetables have more pesticides, we get some nutrition from it while we get none from the colas. They even have a term for it: poison-nutrition trade off.

If the issue CSE is trying to address is pesticides in food, why target American multinationals only? While the colas may get banned or kicked out of the country, who is going to address this bigger issue of pesticides in the food we eat daily.

Update Arjun Swarup writes(via IndiaUncut):

One also needs to examine where the adulteration is coming from. The common perception is that the contamination is at the ground water level, and the colas are contaminated, albeit very minutely, due to the water content. However, this is far from the truth. Both Pepsi and Coke�??s bottled water products, Aquafina and Kinley have not been found to contain pesticide. The pesticide content is due to the sugar, which is contaminated, like virtually every other agricultural product.

Gautam John notes:

There is still a large variance between the results quoted by the CSE and those by the manufacturers. And this is something that is a reality, the same sample tested by different labs using the same method of analysis can give you differing results. And you�??d have to be very cynical to believe that these companies are intentionally poisoning us, for profit at that! And why have they chosen only soft drinks to target, why not bottled water too? The answer, of course, is obvious; it's far easier a target to tarnish.