Coke, Pepsi banned in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh August 2006 Mumbai: Even as Cocoa-Cola and PepsiCo unleashed a communication campaign assuring consumers that pesticide levels in their aerated drinks were well within the prescribed limits, the governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — all NDA — ruled states - have banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi in their educational institutions, government offices and canteens. The ban follows a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi stating that pesticide presence in soft drinks were 24 times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards. CSE, which had carried out tests on 57 samples taken from 11 soft drink brands made by Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India, had found a "cocktail of three to five different pesticides," all apparently present in ground water used to make the drinks. PepsiCo's media campaign said: "... new regulations for carbonated drinks notified by the health minister on July 15, 2004, are comparable to the most stringent international regulations, including the European Union. All PepsiCo products in India meet these standards. Our products comply with the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) directive on the use of water in the preparation of soft drinks." The toxins found in the soft drinks could, if consumed over a long period, cause cancer, birth defects and damage to the nervous system, the latest study said. Reacting to the Pepsi advertisement, the CSE said in a press release, "... they are selectively quoting from the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report to mislead us. For instance, while the advertisement says that pesticides in its Diet Pepsi are `below limit', it conveniently forgets to add that the same sample exceeds the limit for DDT, a banned pesticide, by 80 per cent. It also does not show the individual pesticide content which exceeds the prescribed limits. "The Committee feels that claims made by the cola companies in their advertisement tantamount to misleading the public as their products do contain pesticides, which have ill effect on human health in the long run," the JPC report had concluded. PepsiCo officials were unavailble to comment on the issue of ban on its products and the CSE's reaction to its advertisement. Meanwhile, the Maldives Food and Drug Authority has started investigations to assess whether pesticides are present in Coke and Pepsi soft drinks imported from India. More Reports about Coca Cola Pepsi, Coca-Cola insist their drinks are safe after Indian ban Coca Cola, Pepsi Contains High Pesticides Levels Ramadoss blames poor water quality, CSE blasts cola ads A new study has claimed that traces of Malathion, a pesticide, which can have harmful effects in the human brain, were found in certain samples of soft drinks. The report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on pesticide content in softdrinks has said considerable traces of Malathion in at least 50 per cent of the samples it collected from the National Capital region for the study. (Amir Khan, one of the brand ambassadors of pesticola) "Malathion is a widely used pesticide in urban areas for controlling mosquitoes and pests and we have found traces of the pesticide in at least 50 per cent of the samples collected in Delhi and its neighbouring areas," CSE associate director Chandra Bhushan said. The study, 'Soft Drinks - Hard Truth II', which was released on August 2, also claimed that softdrink samples collected from the NCR contained a "pesticide cocktail" of Lindane, Heptachlor, Chlorpyrosis and Malathion and it was more than 20 times the approved BIS standards. According to CSE's 2003 study, the average level of pesticide residues in Delhi samples were 34 times above the same BIS standards. Nine samples of Coca Cola, Fanta, Limca and Thums Up were collected from various parts of the capital during December 2005 and April 2006. They were produced in Gurgaon's Enrich Agro Food Products and Ghaziabad's Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages and were tested as part of CSE's all India study, Bhushan said. Malathion, a chemical inhibitor, is known for hindering transmission of signals to human brain. The credibility of CSE’s testing labs, which detected high levels of pesticide residue in soft drinks has been challenged by the lab that conducts regular tests for the cola firms. The NGO has however, strongly dismissed such allegations. While there was no official comment from either PepsiCo or Coca Cola, R K Khandal, the director of Sri Ram Labs, said the CSE laboratory did not have the NABL accreditation, "a must" for any centre conducting tests related to food safety and health standards. SHRC bans Coca Cola and Pepsico on campuses Pesticide levels in soft drinks too high NEW DELHI -- The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Wednesday came out with a new report on the levels of pesticides in soft drinks available in the market. The report indicated the presence of an average of three to five different pesticides in all the samples, 24 times higher than the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms, which have been finalised but not yet notified. The latest CSE study is based on tests conducted on 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola and Pepsico, spread over 12 States. The levels in some samples — for instance, Coca-Cola bought in Kolkata — exceeded the BIS standards by 140 times for the deadly pesticide Lindane, a confirmed carcinogen. Similarly, a Coca-Cola sample manufactured in Thane contained 200 times more of the neurotoxin, Chlorpyrifos, than the BIS standard, said Sunita Narain of CSE releasing the report here. Three years after the centre released its first findings on pesticide residue in soft drinks, the new study shows that nothing much has changed and soft drinks remain unsafe and unhealthy. Even the directions given by the Joint Parliamentary Committee have been disregarded: standards for safety have been finalised but blocked because of opposition by the companies, Ms. Narain alleged. In 2003, the average level of pesticide residue in samples from Delhi was 34 times above the same BIS standard, but this time the CSE has found pesticide residue as high as 52 times in bottles brought in Kolkata and 42 times in bottles bought in Nainital and Gorakhpur. Similarly, bottles bought in Mumbai, manufactured in Thane and Nagpur, allegedly had residue 34 times above the BIS standard. Heptachlor, banned in India, was allegedly found in 71 per cent of the samples, at levels four times higher than BIS standards. The average amount of pesticide residue found in all the samples was 11.85 parts per billion (ppb) or 24 times higher than the BIS standards for total pesticides in soft drinks (0.5 ppb). Pepsi Cola contained 30 times higher residue on an average, while Coca-Cola contained 27 times higher than average. Endorsed by JPC The current study was conducted by the same Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE that had tested the samples in 2003, and the methodology was endorsed by the JPC despite doubts raised by the cola companies over the veracity of the tests. This time further improvements had been made, and the laboratory now had ISO 9001:2000 quality management system accreditation and it was equipped with state-of-the-art GS-MS equipment, Ms. Narain said. In February 2004, confirming the unsafe levels of pesticides in soft drinks, the JPC had directed the Government to set standards for these residues in the products. Since then, BIS has, in its sectional committee, met over 20 times to deliberate on the standards, and in October 2005 the standards were finalised. Ms. Narain alleged that the final standards were being opposed by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on the ground that more research needed to be done. In this respect, she quoted a letter written by the Union Health Secretary to his counterpart in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The letter was written on March 29, 2006 — the day the standards were to be formally finalised. The standards were finalised, but not notified, Ms. Narain said. Courtesy : The Hindu Lebanon : Ministerial decisions could bring change, say analysts BEIRUT, 8 August (IRIN) - Decisions made by the Arab League Council of Ministers in Beirut on Monday could yield serious changes in Lebanon, should the UN Security Council amend a draft resolution set to be voted on within hours, say analysts. Observers point out that the decision to deploy Lebanese army troops to the country's south could be used to exercise a degree of leverage over the council."The decision to deploy 15,000 [Lebanese] troops in the south is definitely positive," said veteran journalist at Lebanese daily As-Safir George Aalam. He added that the move would directly address US anxieties regarding the potential creation of a power vacuum in the case of an immediate Israeli withdrawal. "The United States would do well to accept amendments to the draft resolution in view of the decision," said Aalam.The draft, drawn up by permanent Security Council members France and the US, has been widely viewed in Lebanon as being biased towards Israel. The draft proposes that the Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon continues until the deployment of UN troops to the area. In addition, the draft demands a "cessation of hostilities" rather than a ceasefire. A cessation of hostilities is a call for parties to the conflict to immediately stop fighting to allow space for humanitarian, political and diplomatic initiatives. A ceasefire goes further than this by requiring a longer political process with the aim of coming to some form of agreement between respective parties and possibly others. Immediately after the foreign ministers' meeting, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa departed for New York to address the Security Council, along with Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Shaikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabber Al Thani, foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, respectively. The UAE is the current chair of the Arab League Ministerial Council, while Qatar is presently a temporary UN Security Council member. Many observers, however, express scepticism as to the efficacy of the Arab ministers' council. "No doubt, the Arab ministers have the potential to influence the permanent members of the Security Council to amend the draft," said Charles Harb, a political science lecturer at the American University of Beirut. "The question is, do they really want to? I don't think so." On 7 August, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters that there was full agreement within the council for a quick political solution to the crisis, in which almost 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and up to one million displaced so far, according to the Lebanese Higher Relief Council. Harb, however, disputed this. "The Syrians and the Saudis are in disagreement over how to deal with the Lebanese question," he said, adding that the Arab League had long since lost its credibility on the Arab street. "There are too many contradictions and disagreements within the council of ministers for real action to take place," he said. The crisis began on 12 July when Israel began launching strikes against targets in Lebanon in response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the armed wing of Lebanese political party Hezbollah. Analysts agree that, should the current UN draft resolution be passed without amendment, the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate as Israel's bombing of civilian infrastructure goes unchecked by the international community. "We're waiting and hoping that the amendments will be made," said Aalam One-sided Reporting on the Middle East By George E. Curry, NNPA Columnist August 7, 2006 Until two Sundays ago, when Israeli bombers leveled a three-story building in the tiny Lebanese village of Oana, killing at least 55 people, most of them children, the U.S. media has been anything but even-handed in covering Israel's three-week assault on southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Israel initiated a 48-hour pause in the aerial attacks, in the face of international condemnation, and later resumed its effort to cripple the military capability of rebel groups intent on destroying Israel. If the past is any indicator, the U.S. media -after it's Sunday pause - will return to its mission of blaming Hazbollah and Hamas for all the strife in the Middle East. Of course, both groups have blood on their hands, but they are not alone. Fair and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), the media watchdog group, reported prior to Sunday's fatal assault: "...The portrayal of Israel as the innocent victim in the Gaza conflict is hard to square with the death toll in the months leading up to the current crisis; between September 2005 and June 2006, 144 Palestinians in Gaza were killed by Israeli forces, according to a list compiled by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem; 29 of those killed were children. During the same period, no Israelis were killed as a result of violence from Gaza." But you'd never know it by reading U.S. newspapers. "On July24, the day before Hamas' cross-border raid, Israel made an incursion of its own, capturing two Palestinians that it said were members of Hamas (something Hamas denied - L.A. Times, 7/25/06). This incident received far less coverage in the U.S. media than the subsequent seizure of the Israeli solider; the few papers that covered it mostly dismissed it in a one-paragraph brief (e.g., Chicago Tribune, 7/25/06), while the Israeli taken prisoner got front-page headlines all over the world." The nation's three leading dailies published one-side, overly simplistic comments on the Middle East violence. "In the wake of the most serious outbreak of Israeli/Arab violence in years, three U.S. papers - the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times - have each strongly editorialized that Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon were solely responsible for sparking violence, and that the Israeli military response was predictable and unavoidable. These editorials ignored recent events that indicate a much more complicated situation," FAIR observed. Under the headline, "Hamas Provokes a Fight," (6/29/06), the New York Times editorialized that "the responsibility for this latest escalation rests squarely with Hamas" and that "Israeli military response was inevitable." In another editorial two weeks later (7/15/06), the Times said: "It is important to be clear about not only who is responsible for the latest outbreak, but who stands to gain most from its continued escalation. Both questions have the same answer: Hamas and Hezbollah." The media monitoring group suggests that the fighting did not begin with the capture of two Israeli soldiers. "A major incident fueling the latest cycle of violence was a May 26, 2006 car bombing in Sidon, Lebanon, that killed a senior official of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group allied with Hezbollah. Lebanon later arrested a suspect, Mahmoud Rafeh, whom Lebanese authorities claimed had confessed to carrying out the assassination on behalf of Mossad (London Times, 6/17/06). Israel denied involvement with the bombing, but even some Israelis are skeptical..." But that wasn't the only precursor to the current conflict. In a July 21 column, FAIR's Alexander Cockburn pointed out: -On June 20, an Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at a car in an attempted extrajudicial assassination attempt. The missile missed the car and killed three Palestinian children and wounded 15; -One June 13, 2005 Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a van in another extrajudicial assassination attempt; nine innocent Palestinians were killed and - Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya on June 9,2006, killing eight civilians and injuring 32. FAIR says, "While Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers may have reignited the smoldering conflict, the Israeli air campaign that followed was not a spontaneous reaction to aggression but a well-planned operation that was years in the making. "'Of all of Israel's wars since 1984, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared,' Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told the San Francisco Chronicle (7/21/05). 'By 2004, the military campaigned scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board.'" FAIR posed a sobering question: If journalists have been told by Israel for more than a year that a war was coming, why are they all pretending that it all started on July 12? That's a good question. I wish we had some good answers. George E. Curry is editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSA.com. Brother Gulf gears up to tap growing market demand for Multi-Function Devices Announces launch of new series of Laser Flatbed MFCs in the Middle East   August , 2006 In a bid to capitalise on the growing demand for Multi-Function Devices in the Middle East, Brother Gulf, a global leader in the development and manufacturing of printing, communication and digital imaging products for homes, SOHOs and enterprises, and a subsidiary of Brother Group, Japan, announced today (Thursday, August 3, 2006), the Middle East launch of its new series of Laser Flatbed Multi-Function Centers (MFCs) at a press conference held at Shangri-La Hotel, Dubai. Speaking at the press conference, Toyomi Ido, President, Brother International Corporation, Japan, said, “The rapidly evolving business environment in the Middle East has seen significant changes taking place in business practices across the corporate sector, keeping pace with the technological innovations. One area that has definitely seen a growing trend in the recent years is office printing, where there has been a notable shift from single function devices to machines that offer multi-function capabilities.” “Brother Gulf has done exceedingly well in the recent years in maximising the availability of Brother products in the regional markets and enhancing the company’s brand image. Brother International Corporation on its part has been providing all the required support and assistance to Brother Gulf to help it achieve its corporate goals,” he added. Yoshihisa Tsuji, Managing Director, Brother Gulf, said, “Multi-Function Centers present a host of benefits to users especially in the small office home office segment, such as cost effectiveness, better space utilisation and greater practicality of use since it allows printing, scanning, copying and faxing from one machine. Our latest range of MFCs with several unique features is designed to deliver unmatched quality of output and thereby maximise customer satisfaction,” he added.   The Brother MFC-8460N and MFC-8860DN are the latest Mono Laser Flatbed MFCs added to Brother’s range of Laser MFCs and faxes. The MFC-8460N and 8860DN are equipped with 28ppm/ 30ppm print speed for A4 and letter sized documents, with a print resolution of up to true 1200x1200dpi. The network-ready MFC 8860DN combines performance, connectivity and reliability, and is a powerful 5-in-1 monochrome workhorse that offers laser printing, faxing, copying, colour scanning and monochrome PC faxing. This is the first Brother MFC that comes with a unique Duplex Automatic Document Feeder (DADF) capable of double-sided faxing, copying and scanning. Fax communications are also swift and easy with the 8860DN, through its 33.6K bps fax modem that transmits in as little as 2 seconds per page and with its features such as speed dialing and out-of-paper reception to store more incoming faxes. Despite its monochrome laser technology, the machine is able to scan in full colour and also has the additional advantage of the ‘scan to’ function that makes it possible to scan images to JPEG or PDF files, to email applications or to an FTP server. The MFC-8460N offers all features of the 8860DN, except the Duplex Automatic Document Feeder function. The MFC-8460N offers the same printing speed and resolution of the 8860DN and also comes with the cost-saving separate toner and drum technology. Brother has incorporated several important features to the MFC-8460N that were not present in its predecessor model MFC-8440, such as enhanced print speed, higher resolution and improved toner and drum yield. “A recent IDC study that shows that the demand for Laser Multi-Function Products in the Middle East is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of around 40 per cent between 2004 and 2006 has further reinforced Brother Gulf’s strategy to capitalise on the growing demand for high quality MFCs in the region. We expect the demand for Brother’s MFCs to grow by 40 per cent by the end of 2006. All our previous models of MFCs have been extremely popular among customers, which gives us every reason to believe that our new range will be an overwhelming success,” said Tsuji. Brother’s products have won numerous prestigious awards and recognitions in the recent past, including the Readers Digest Super Brands Award 2005 Singapore; ‘Best Buy’ Award from PC Magazine Singapore in May 2005; ‘Five Star’ rating from Netguide Australia in March 2005; ‘Five Star’ rating from Editor’s Choice Windows Magazine, UAE in March 2005; ‘Best Value’ Award from Windows Magazine, UAE in June 2006 and Editor’s Choice Windows Magazine, UAE in July 2006 among others.   “Looking ahead, we expect to maintain the impressive pace of growth that we achieved in the first half of this year and we will continue with our relentless focus on customer service as we align our business goals with the Global Vision 21 of Brother Group,” concluded Tsuji. Since its establishment in 1991, Brother Gulf has been delivering best-of-breed products to customers across the Middle East region. While Laser Printers, Facsimile machines and Multi-Function Centers (MFCs) form the mainstay products of Brother, the company’s product range also includes Labelling machines, Electronic Typewriters, Laminators, Stamp Creators, Home and Industrial Sewing machines, Industrial Embroidery machines and Machine Tools. OMV announces second oil and gas discovery in Tunisia Plans for 3D seismic acquisition and drilling of further wells OMV Aktiengesellschaft, Central Europe’s leading oil and gas group, today announced a discovery and successful testing of oil and gas in its Nawara 1 exploration well in the Jenein Sud Exploration Permit in Southern Tunisia. This isthe second discovery in the Permit within a year and shows the high potential of this block, which is operated by OMV (Tunesien) Exploration GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of OMV. The exploration well reached a total depth of 3,970 meter on June 4, 2006 and encountered a total of 25 meter net oil and gas/condensate pay in several layers at depths of 3,600 to 3,900 meter. Further appraisal developments of the area include the acquisition of 3D seismic and drilling of additional wells. Helmut Langanger, OMV Executive Board member responsible for Exploration and Production stated: "I am delighted with this second consecutive discovery in our Jenein Sud Exploration Block which is one of our core regions. It confirms the potential of this block and reinforces our plans for further growth in Tunisia.” The combined flow rate of all layers tested by the Nawara 1 well amounts to 5,970 bbl/d of oil and 58 mn scf/d of gas. The drilling rig has moved off and preparations for further production testing are under way. Acquisition of 3D seismic is expected to start in August this year, and further Drilling will commence early next year. OMV and the Tunisian national oil company ETAP each hold 50% in the Jenein Sud Exploration Permit, OMV acts as operator. The area covers 1,992 km², 700 km south of the Tunisian capital Tunis. On 29 March this year, OMV announced its first discovery in the Jenein Sud Permit with well Warda 1 producing 1,500 bbl/d of oil and 1,625 boe/d of gas on test. OMV owns a balanced international E&P portfolio in 18 countries organised around five core regions, namely the Danube and Adriatic, Northern Africa, the British North Sea, the Middle East/Caspian and Australia/New Zealand. With the acquisition of 51% of Petrom, Romania’s largest oil company, OMV’s daily production volume is approximately 338,000 boe/d, and the company’s reserves, approximately 1.4 bnboe.