New Delhi, Aug. 3: Lok Sabha MPs today tore into cola companies for feeding “slow poison” to people, with some demanding a ban on soft drinks produced by multinationals Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, companies politicians love to hate.

Deputy leader of the BJP V.K. Malhotra declared there was not a single member in the House who was for Coke. “Why should it not be banned?” he asked, calling for one “immediately”.

But the MPs who were up in arms over a report on pesticide content in soft drinks, which some people have some of the time, have been unmoved by numerous studies revealing pesticides in water, cereals and vegetables that people consume everyday.

One study in the 1980s even showed that nursing mothers secreted pesticide residues.

Over 20 MPs spoke on pesticides in colas in a discussion that ended in an Opposition walkout. They cited findings released yesterday by an NGO, which said tests on 57 samples showed pesticide residues higher than those found three years ago.

While some MPs demanded a ban on colas, others urged people to give them up. “Only milk is pure,” RJD’s Ram Kripal Yadav said. “Give up everything except milk and matha (buttermilk).”'

But banning colas and ushering in doodh (milk) or dahi (curd) as substitutes may not be enough to keep away from pesticide residues.

Scientists at the National Institute of Occupational Health had analysed 50 samples of human milk — taken from nursing mothers in the age group of 18 to 30 years — in the late 1980s. They found residues of pesticides DDT and HCH in all 50 samples.

In a nationwide study of 250 samples of water from lakes, rivers and natural underground reservoirs, 150 samples were found contaminated with one or more pesticide residues. The study, by agricultural scientists in the late 1990s, found residues of chlorpyrifos and endosulfan.

Three years ago, around the same time that the presence of pesticides in soft drinks was exposed, agricultural scientist Irani Mukherjee at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute published a study that revealed pesticide residues in vegetables from around Delhi. One-third of the samples contained pesticide residues above the prescribed limits.

A study by the Indian Council of Medical Research analysed 2,000 samples of rice from 13 states and revealed that 180 contained pesticide residues exceeding permissible levels.

But not one of these reports, which concern the health of all Indians as opposed to the limited number that choose to drink soft drinks, has caught the eye of politicians too busy attacking multinationals.

“The government has surrendered before these companies,” Samajwadi Party’s Ramjilal Suman said, accusing it of inaction.