environmental watchdog today urged soft drink manufacturers to get lead, a
chemical poison, out of the painted labels of their sugary products.
The EcoWaste Coalition issued the appeal after discovering high levels of lead
on the labels of some popular soft drinks using an analytical device called
X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer.
Lead, harmful even in small amounts, is known to cause mental, physical, developmental
and behavioral problems, as well as reproductive disorders, birth defects,
cardiovascular diseases and cancers, according to health and medical scientists.
the country’s top selling products, consumed even by young children, and
distributed widely through sari-sari stores in almost all neighbourhoods,” said
Thony Dizon, Project Protect Coordinator, EcoWaste Coaltiion.
and not on the actual beverage,” he explained.
“Lead from the label may not leach into the liquid inside the impermeable glass
container. However, lead may get into
the bottle when it is washed for recycling, or ingested by a consumer, particularly
a child, when she touches the leaded part and then put her fingers in her
mouth,” he emphasized.
“We will write to the soft drink companies and request them to stop using leaded
paint on their product labels as an essential precautionary measure,” he
said.
“If most soft drink companies can have their product names and emblems made with
unleaded paint, we see no reason why other companies cannot do the same,” he
added.
Out of 15 soft drink products the group
bought from various retailers on July 5 and 6, three were found to contain
excessive lead, way above the 90 ppm US limit for lead in paints and surface
coatings.
Without naming the brands or their manufacturers, the EcoWaste Coalition
reported that the 240 ml and 800 ml of one soda drink had more than 100,000 ppm
of lead on the label. In addition, the
label on the 800 ml bottle had 2,436 ppm of antimony, 9,301 ppm of arsenic and
14,700 ppm of cadmium.
A brand of a fruit soda had 82,700 ppm of lead, plus 1,589 ppm of antimony, 7,400
ppm of arsenic and 7,964 ppm of cadmium on its label.
While negative for lead, another fruit soda had on its label 2,644 of cadmium,
a carcinogenic substance.
With its latest findings, the EcoWaste Coalition pushed food and health
authorities to ban the use of leaded inks, paints and other materials in all
food and beverage packaging to protect workers and consumers alike from being
exposed to lead to the maximum extent possible.
It also asked that cadmium and other chemicals of concern be prohibited
for all food contact materials.
The EcoWaste Coalition recalled that a major US beverage company in 2006 was
fined $1 million in civil penalty by a Los Angeles court for failing to warn
consumers about the leaded labels of its imported bottled drinks as required
under Proposition 65 and agreed to shift to lead-free labels.
Meanwhile, the EcoWaste Coalition reiterated its support to the Department of
Health’s proposal banning soft drinks and junk foods in school canteens in
order to promote healthy and nutritious diet and lifestyle among school-going
kids.
-end-
My god, name names! Who are these companies and why are you protecting their identities? You purposely give them some wiggle room as fallback in exchange for what?
You just lost a supporter.