New Delhi: Close on the heels of a major health scare on finding pesticides in bottled drinking water, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on August 5 claimed that the bottled soft drinks owned by two multi national companies (MNCs) – PepsiCo and Coca Cola – also failed the same health standards testing positive for pesticides.

"Twelve major cold drink brands sold in Delhi and around contain a deadly cocktail of pesticide residues," Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said.

Officials of both PepsiCo and Coke declined to comment on the tests, saying the two companies will be holding a joint press conference later.

According to the tests conducted by Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML) of CSE, all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: Lindane, DDT, Malathion and Chlorpyrifos.

The three-member PML team involved in the tests was Dr H B Mathur, Dr Sapna Johnson and Avinash Kumar.

Three samples each of the 12 brands purchased from markets across the city, analysed in April-August and found to contain pesticides residues are Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Mirinda Orange, Mirinda Lemon, Blue Pepsi, 7-Up, Coca Cola, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Thums Up.

Mathur said these pesticides included potent carcinogens, which can cause cancers and reduce bone mineral density.

PTI