A study in India alleging that Coca-Cola and other soft drinks made in the country contain more than 24 times the maximum level of pesticides permitted under proposed new standards has knocked the world's most valuable brand for six...MPs have called for both Coke and PepsiCo to be kicked out of India. A quarter of India's 28 states have banned their drinks in schools, with Kerala outlawing them altogether...to cap things off, the supreme court has demanded they publish their ingredients, potentially jeopardising Coke's famed "secret" formula...Both companies are trying to keep their heads down in the hope the fuss will blow over and have refused to comment on the record other than to point to a soft drinks industry association statement saying Indian manufacturers observe all "applicable" standards...Yet at the same time, aware that the moral high ground goes to anyone with a website, Coke has adopted the tools of its adversaries and quietly directs reporters to supportive blogs of dubious authenticity. It also, bizarrely, provides journalists with the phone number for the "Centre for Sanity and Balance in Public Life", an organisation that has no website and to which Google provides no web references...Suhel Seth, an advisor to Coca-Cola India, says the furore is a case of "cheap populism, brand-trashing and multinational-bashing". Many people find it far safer to drink Coke and Pepsi than water, he says, but politicians find it more convenient to go for global brand names than sort out contaminated groundwater...The CSE's [Centre for Science and Environment] laudable campaign to improve water quality has won global publicity through this shrewd tactic, proving again that going after quintessential symbols of US capitalism is the quickest way for advocacy groups to bring attention to their cause. Unfair it may be but Coke and Pepsi urgently need independent laboratories to vouch for their products' safety. [also refers to Union Carbide (now part of Dow Chemical)]