Scheca02's List: Coke

• begins with Pemberton, a veteran from Georgia who emerged from the Civil War w
• th a morphine addiction.
• Pemberton’s French Wine Coca, a brew that in
• 1886, as Atlanta passed prohibition legislation, he reformulated the drink without alcohol,
• mula in 1887,
• sa Candler, an early president of the Coca-Cola company who bought the for
• Candler even went through the company mail so he could shred invoices that employees might attempt to sell to other drink makers.
• • The life of the creator was pretty rough. It's actually rather interesting to see what is actually in Coke. Also find that Coke was originialy thought to cure a morphine addiction is rather interesting. 

• The recipe:

   

  Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USP
   Citric acid: 3 oz
   Caffeine: 1 oz
   Sugar: 30 (unclear quantity)
   Water: 2.5 gal
   Lime juice: 2 pints, 1 quart
   Vanilla: 1 oz
   Caramel: 1.5 oz or more for color
   

   

  The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):
   Alcohol:  8 oz
   Orange oil: 20 drops
   Lemon oil: 30 drops
   Nutmeg oil: 10 drops
   Coriander: 5 drops
   Neroli: 10 drops
   Cinnamon: 10 drops

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• company used 283 billion liters   of water in 2004.
• water use ratio   of 2.7 to 1
• Coca-Cola's blatant disregard for water and communities   that sustain themselves from water more evident than in India.

  • Opionated but probably factual. 
• The company regularly extracts up to one million liters of water per   day in some areas in India.
• severe water shortages for tens of thousands   of people.
• 75% of the   freshwater it extracts is turned into wastewater.
• The company has   indiscriminately discharged its wastewater into the surrounding fields,   severely polluting the scarce remaining groundwater as well as soil.
• in Plachimada,   in the state of Kerala, has remained shut down since March 2004 because   the village council has refused to allow it to extract any more water   from the common groundwater resource.

  • Answers question 4.
    The relationship of the people in Plachimada and Coke is not good. They don't seem to have water to drink, I doubt they are drinking Coke, but that is not factual, just an observation. Yes the factory has changed their lives. 
• the state government of Kerala   has now challenged the Coca-Cola company's operations to the Supreme   Court of India, arguing that "poor villages are deprived of drinking   water due to overuse of ground water by Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada   to produce bottled drinks for sale to people who have purchasing capacity   in different cities of the country."
• Mehdiganj, Kala Dera and   Gangaikondan, communities have organized themselves and are challenging   Coca-Cola's abuse of water resources.

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• The steps promised by Coke are the latest example of a major global brand agreeing to assert more direct oversight of the vast and hard-to-regulate supply chains that have helped hold down prices for consumer goods, but sometimes at the cost of subpar or even dangerous working conditions in developing countries.
• Oxfam has been pushing major global consumer goods retailers to expand supply chain protections and said the announcement by one of the world’s biggest purchasers of cane sugar could prompt other firms to do the same
• Consolidating tracts of land into larger plantations to grow crops for export could leave a country better off, with the foreign exchange earnings allowing it to more than replace the lost production of food for local consumption.

  • Who's going to end up growing the food these villages need to eat? 

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• Coca Cola and its subsidiaries are accused of creating severe water shortages for the community by extracting large quantities of water for their factories, affecting both the quantity and quality of water.

  • I didn't make this highlight. Talk to prof?
    
• n 2003, women from the Vijayanagaram Colony in the village of Plachimada, protested that their wells had dried up because of the over exploitation of groundwater resources by the Coca-cola plant.

  • How Coke production has affected the women of the village and their children. Also the hardships that care caused because of the water use, pollution, and disposal. Highlight the difference in classes; poor can't get water, rich in same area are buying the coke. In the long run though don't we all pay a price for what is being produced. Between the pollution of making the coke and the bottling then shipping, and left over cans, we call pay a price.
• The Plachimada storyMarch 2000 – Factory established

   

  April 2002 – Agitation by the villagers commences

   

  March 2003 – Village Council refuses to renew licence

   

  May 2003 – State government stays the Village Council decision

   

  Dec 2003 – Single judge bench of the Kerala High court upholds the Village Council’s decision

   

  21 Feb 2004 – The Government ordered the company to stop drawing ground water from the plant

   

  12 March 2004 – Coca Cola company suspended production saying it was “left with no option but to close the factory down in the long run”

   

  29 March 2004 – Village Council refused to renew licences again saying company had failed to meet conditions to: stop using ground water; demonstrate that its products were safe, and prove the non-toxicity of its solid waste

  • Little history on the effects of the company

• In August 2006, this brought a new twist to the ongoing saga. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board ordered a ban on the manufacture and sale of Coca Cola in the State questioning the safety of the product itself, based on allegations that it contained pesticides and harmful chemicals in a report by an NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.

   

  Coca Cola put out a press release stating:

   

  “We are completely confident in the safety of our soft drinks in India because they are produced to the same level of purity, regarding pesticides, as the stringent EU criteria for bottled water.

   

  We support the adoption of stringent, science-based rules by the Indian government regarding levels of pesticides in soft drinks. The rules should be based on sound and validated testing methodologies. We continue to work with relevant government bodies, industry associations, non government organizations (NGOs) and the scientific community to develop and finalize criteria and associated testing methods for pesticides in soft drinks.
• “Accordingly, we are working with many partners across India to improve watershed management, and with the Central Ground Water Authority, local governments and communities to expand the use of simple and effective rainwater harvesting technology. To date, we have installed rainwater harvesting systems in 200 locations, including schools and farms, that are helping recharge aquifers when the rains come.”

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• This is the first time that the footprint of any brand of sparkling drink has been certified by the Carbon Trust. We were driven by our desire to be as environmentally friendly as possible, in keeping with our responsibilities as the world's favourite soft drinks company.

  • A bias opinion and the stats probably might not be 100% true, but it's an interesting look and prospective. An even balance in the research.