Saturday, August 27, 2005

For anyone that has been to beautiful Kerala, the news last week that the Coca Cola factory there is being ordered to shut down will sound like music to your ears...
You are sure to have seen signs all over the place and especially in restaurants saying that they will not serve Coke because the company has polluted the land and also denied people access to clean water..water which it takes in large amounts, from land with water shortages, to make it's soft drinks...
Finally the court has found it guilty of offering the locals sludge waste contaminated by poisonous cadmium to use as fertiliser...that's poisonous sludge for their veggies and fruits..very nice of Coke, non?
Not only that, now a member of the pollution board is being investigated for corruption and for accepting bribes when he said that the Coca Cola plant was not polluting beyond acceptable limits...except that it was and everyone knows it..
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The poisonous sludge was once sold !! to the locals...before it got given out for free..or just dumped on the roadsides..
For photos of protests against the company go here, and notice that unarmed men and women were beaten with sticks by officers protecting the factory..
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Other not so nice things Coca Cola does
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by Trevor Datson
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Coca Cola has been accused of involvement in the murder of ten union leaders in Colombia... see American Prospect and the Guardian for more info..
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Coke and other soft drinks manufactured in India were found to contain pesticides:
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The diet versions of Coke and other soft drinks contain the neurotoxin Aspartame..which when it is kind gives you joint pain, eye pain, dizziness, confusion, headaches,irritability, nausea..etc..
and when it is in the mood to play with you it causes death, brain damage, ulcers, severe depression,alzheimers, multiple sclerosis, non-hodgkin's lymphoma..all in all it causes over 92 side effects..
I know someone who's chronic pain and symptoms of senility vanished when she stopped taking anything containing Aspartame..do yourself a favour and don't order the diet versions of soft drinks..aspartame also causes gradual weight gain..so you're doing nothing useful..
Also if you are pregnant stay away from aspartame because it can affect fetal brain development..
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The phosphorous in coke and other soft drinks dissolves bones..by leaching calcium out...leading to osteoporosis...and the risk of obesity becomes 1.6 times stronger...read more here..
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So next time you reach for that coke, and especially when you take a look at where it was bottled..give a thought to the poisoned land, poisoned farmers, your own beautiful body and maybe go for the fresh juice instead..
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When it comes to boycotts...Coke is it article in Enough Fanzine
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Coke: The New Nike- Michael Blanding
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"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it"

Mahatma Gandhi

6 comments:

illusion said...

Very imformative post, thank god I don't drink coke or pepsi

kwtia said...

Hi illusion, you're very lucky not to be addicted to those drinks...it's too bad so many people are..

kwtia said...

Hi VC, Yeah I always wonder why you would create a poison and then sell it to people..but thats the way some people make money..too bad..Coca cola could refashion itself as a clean, organic company..that way all the people working for them would still have a job..but fat chance that will happen i think..

kwtia said...

:) Ahh Sinalco..Panda you are very bad..I hope that you read this particular post very carefully.

Shemsi said...

Hi--this comment is a few posts too late. . .

We went to see the Aristocrats yesterday. It was very funny--very nasty but very funny. When we bought the tickets, the seller had to give us a little speech about how the movie is intended to be offensive and that if we're offended and walk out, we're not going to get a refund. I didn't see anyone walk out. Everybody was rolling on the floor laughing.

kwtia said...

Hi Sarah, that's great..if you see any of the other films let me know..I don't know when they will be available here..