Killer Coke News Archive | 2014
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"Jamie Oliver: 'Parts of South America have been raped by Westernised brands'" by Lizzie Dearden, The Independent, January 3, 2015
"Jamie Oliver has reportedly accused multinational soft drink corporations of 'raping' parts of South America by dominating the market with unhealthy products…
"Mr Doherty [friend of Oliver] told the newspaper he recently visited a dental hospital in Mexico which treats 'three-year-olds with no teeth because they drink so much Coke'.
" 'But you go there and the dentists are sitting on branded Coca-Cola chairs, under Coca-Cola umbrellas.' He added. 'They're saturated.'
"Jamie Oliver: Coca-Cola y otras marcas occidentales han violado América del Sur," 4 ene 2015
"Doherty ha comentado que hace poco visitaba un hospital en México donde reciben tratamiento niños de tres años 'sin dientes porque beben mucha Coca-Cola'. 'Pero vas allí y los dentistas están sentados en sillas de marca Coca-Cola, bajo parasoles de Coca-Cola. Están saturados', ha lamentado Doherty."
The chef has spoken out against the dominance of multinational drinks companies
@CocaColaEnLucha sin readmisión no hay FELICIDAD!
"Russia's Putin says Coca-Cola may be harmful for children to drink" by Phil W. Hudson, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Dec. 19, 2014
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" '[I] did not know whether Coca-Cola is a harmful drink, but many experts say it is [harmful] for children,' the former KGB officer said. 'The thing is we have our own national drinks.'
"The comment was made after a man from Kirov asked whether Russian supermarkets should stock kvas, a fermented beverage commonly made from black or regular rye bread, instead of Coca-Cola.
"The comments made about the world's largest beverage company may have dire consequences as The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is listed as a sponsor of the 2018 Russia World Cup, which is scheduled to take place between June 14 and July 15."
"This Mexican ad blames Coke for the country's obesity epidemic" by Svati Kirsen Narula, Quartz, Dec. 10, 2014
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"In a powerful new public service announcement, the public health advocacy group El Poder del Consumidor seeks to turn even more Mexicans off soda. It borrows Coca-Cola's "Haz feliz a alguien" ("Make someone happy") tagline, but instead of depicting people raising Coke bottles in festive cheer, it features families whose Christmases have been saddened by complications of Type 2 diabetes...
El Poder del Consumidor also orchestrated a demonstration against Coca-Cola in Mexico City to coincide with the launch of this ad,according to the nutrition activist and New York University professor Marion Nestle.
"Coca-Cola's Fairlife Milk Ads Slammed As Sexist" by Ron Dicker, The Huffington Post, Dec. 2, 2014
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"Coca-Cola's distributing a new kind of milk--one critics say has been promoted with sexist ads.
"The soft drink giant, which is helping launch a premium milk brand called Fairlife, is getting flak over a test market ad campaign that features all-but-naked models coated in a splash of milk. The images are accompanied by captions such as 'Drink What She's Wearing' and 'Better Milk Looks Good On You...'
"The Guardian called the campaign 'a tedious reminder that when it comes to the objectification of women in advertising, we seem to be slipping backward instead of moving forward.'"
"How Coca-Cola built a sugary empire, by outsourcing as much as possible" by Bartow Elmore, Fortune Magazine, Nov. 25, 2014
Bartow Elmore is a professor of U.S. history at the University of Alabama and is the author of Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism.
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"The soft drink company proved incredibly adept at getting other businesses and local governments to bear the majority of the costs of producing and distributing its products...
"While Coca-Cola is shifting towards healthier drink options, especially bottled water, the price for providing this service should appear unconscionable to the informed consumer. Americans pay more than $4 for a gallon of Dasani water when they could easily enjoy the same quantity of clean water from their tap for a fraction of a cent. Perhaps our money could be better spent fixing public water systems--which currently need over $500 billion in repairs, according to the EPA--rather than purchasing Coke's bottled water. After all, as Coke's history makes clear, private citizens and Coca-Cola need public pipes to survive."
Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism
"1.6 Million-Member American Federation of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor and Human Rights Record," by Corporate Campaign, Inc., November 24, 2014
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"Corporate Campaign, Inc. applauds the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) for its historic move to ban all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, based on Coke's human rights record. The Union calls on affiliates to "participate in campaigns to remove Coca-Cola products from their schools, colleges, hospitals and other places in which they work."
"Weekend reading: a fresh take on the soda industry" by Marion Nestle, Food Politics, Nov. 21, 2014
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"Elmore is an historian at the University of Alabama, whose book takes a fresh look at how soda companies managed to make fortunes selling cheap sugar water. Advertising, he says, is only a minor factor in generating soda profits.
"The real profits came from a business strategy that offloads the costs and risks onto suppliers, bottlers, and taxpayers. Soda companies depend on taxpayers for the cost of city water supplies, the recycling discarded cans and bottles, the cleanup of containers that are not recycled, the transportation of sodas to the military, and the health care of overweight consumers.
"The public, he says, should be setting and collecting the price for use of public resources, rather than 'accepting the bill for corporate waste.'"
"Is drinking soda the new smoking?" — CBS, November 14, 2014
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"In New York, Brooklyn lawmaker Karim Camara is proposing a state law requiring sugary sodas to carry a warning label: 'SAFETY WARNING: DRINKING BEVERAGES WITH ADDED SUGAR CONTRIBUTES TO OBESITY, DIABETES AND TOOTH DECAY...'
"Passing this type of legislation takes time, effort, and money. Is it really worth it?
"Camara, the author of the warning-label bill, thinks so. 'The people that are disproportionately affected by diabetes are poor or people of color, and I believe increasing awareness will help parents stop giving soda to their children,' he says."
How Much Sugar Is Too Much? A New Tool Sheds Some Light NPR, By Lisa Aliferis, Nov. 10, 2014
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"But knowing how much sugar you're eating can be challenging. Here are some key facts from the SugarScience website.
"• Added sugar is hiding in 74 percent of packaged foods. (Proposed changes to the nutrition label would change this by including a separate line for added sugars.)
"• Fructose, a common type of sugar, can damage your liver more than other kinds of sugar — just like too much alcohol can.
"• One 12-ounce can of soda a day can increase your risk of dying of heart disease by one-third.
"The site also includes tips on concrete steps that people can take to cut down on sugar. The most straightforward way is to stop drinking sugar-sweetened drinks, like sodas, sports drinks and energy drinks, the researchers say. More than one-third of added sugar in the diet comes from sugary drinks."
"Beverage giants lobby against NSW container deposit scheme," The Sydney Moring Herald, By Kirsty Needham, November 9, 2014
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"Eighty per cent of consumers support the idea of a 10 cent deposit on cans and bottles to encourage recycling. One in three pieces of litter in Australia is a drink container. The polling shows it is a family favourite.
"But beverage companies hate the idea. It was recently revealed by Liberal MP Catherine Cusack that she was threatened with a 'disgraceful' $4 million advertising attack against the Liberal Party by the drinks industry at the 2011 election if her party adopted a policy to introduce a scheme...
"Coca-Cola Amatil, which hates the idea of kids being paid 10 cents to bring soft drink bottles to 'reverse vending machines' at shopping centres, met with Stokes about 'litter reduction' in July.
"Two weeks later, beverage giants Lion Nathan and CUB went straight to the top and met with Baird. Stokes then met separately with recycling companies, and Keep Australia Beautiful (an unlikely opponent of container deposits, coincidentally funded by Coca-Cola)."
"Berkeley breaks through on soda tax" by Helena Bottemiller Evich, Politico, November 5, 2014
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"Berkeley, California, a city known for its progressive politics, made history Tuesday night by approving the first real sin tax on soda in the United States.
"Voters approved Measure D, a penny-per-ounce tax, by a 3-to-1 margin after a bitter campaign battle, with the beverage industry spending more than $2.1 million to oppose the initiative...
"But health advocates are practically jumping for joy. After decades of hard-fought losses on soda taxes, they hope their victory in Berkeley will breathe new life into the issue. The win is 'absolutely huge,' according to Marion Nestle, a professor at New York University and author of 'Food Politics.'
"Some research has suggested that it will reduce consumption, but the theory has never been fully tested in the United States. In Mexico, sugar-sweetened beverage sales are down roughly 10 percent and juice, water and diet soda sales are up 7 percent since the country instituted a tax on soda and junk food last year, according to a preliminary study . Health advocates are eager to see whether similar changes can happen stateside -- and whether reductions in obesity and diabetes might follow."
"U.S. Coke Sales Have Dropped So It's Selling To Nations That Don't Have An Obesity Epidemic... Yet" by Bartow J. Elmore, The World Post, October 29, 2014
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"...as sales began to lag in the United States, Coke had to look elsewhere for people who would consume its flagship sugary beverages. The idea that Coke could simply abandon its top full-calorie brands and still offer a healthy portfolio to investors was absurd. So the company turned to overseas markets to make up for lost revenue at home by selling more Coca-Cola abroad, in places like India, where the company happily reported caloric beverages enjoying double-digit growth in 2012. Two years later, the company heralded "six percent growth in brand Coca-Cola" in Eurasian and African markets. If the company was talking about slimming down to the public, it was feedings its shareholders a steady diet of more calories sold around the globe."
"Soft drinks an increasingly hard sell to Canadian consumers" by Jamie Sturgeon, Global News, Oct. 29, 2014
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"...fewer Canadian consumers are biting, opting instead for options with less sugar or artificial sweeteners.
"In fact, soft drink prices have descended into 'irrational pricing' territory to prop up sales, retail experts at CIBC said a few months back - and even that's not working.
"Coke said last week its North American sales continue to fall this year as part of an industry-wide decline..."
"Sugary Soda Linked to Cellular Aging," KMBZ (Kansas City), October 21, 2014
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"University of California San Francisco researchers contend, 'Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas might influence disease development, not only by straining the body's metabolic control of sugars but also through accelerated cellular aging of tissues.'
"In other words, the DNA of people who drink the equivalent of 20 ounces of sugary soda daily is almost five years older than those who don't consume carbonated beverages."
"The Not-So-Sweet Relief: How The Soda Industry Is Influencing Medical Organizations" by Richard Bruno, MD and Kevin Burns, MD, Union of Concerned Scientists,
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public, October 15, 2014
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"With increasing scrutiny over the dire health consequences of sugar-sweetened beverages, soda manufacturers have turned to obscuring the science, confusing the consumer, and sponsoring medical organizations whose recommendations influence both providers and patients. Unfortunately these corporate partnerships are conflicts of interest that undermine the credibility of the organizations and stymie reform.
"Most notably, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has had a corporate partnership with The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) since 2009, which has resulted in educational materials and underwriting of their patient information website FamilyDoctor.org. A striking example of how the partnership undermines the family physician's credibility occurs on the page for "Diabetes," which recommends a healthy diet, while nestled neatly next to an advertisement for Coca-Cola and a footnote acknowledging TCCC as 'partial underwriter' for the page."
"Forward Push on Soda Ban; De Blasio Administration Considers New Ways to Cap Size of Sugary Drinks" by MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 15, 2014
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"Mayor Bill de Blasio 's administration is exploring new ways to regulate the size of large sugary drinks in New York City, holding high-level meetings behind closed doors with health advocates and beverage industry executives.
"Mayor de Blasio has made clear he supports a ban on large sugary drinks," his spokesman, Phil Walzak, said on Thursday. "The administration is currently considering plans on the best way to reach that goal..."
"Mr. de Blasio, in a relatively rare display of agreement with Mr. Bloomberg, has vowed to find a way to limit the size of drinks, a move public-health advocates say would help fight obesity."
"India: Farmers In Confrontation With 'Coca Cola' Over Water," InSerbia Network Foundatoin, Oct 12, 2014
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Dispute over water in India between farmers and "Coca Cola" is still ongoing. Farmers accuse the company of endangering their lives.
"Now we have to dig deeper wells than when we had water," says Savitri Rai, a 60-year-old woman, noting that her estate in the village of Mehadiganj, Uttar Pradesh state, is now surrounded by mud and water can not be found even at 240 meters depth.
Savitri said that poverty is increasing, as farmers' search for water in the village has become futile. And they are blaming "Coca Cola" company
"Coca-Cola Is Bleeding Indian Towns Dry & But Not if These Farmers Can Stop It" by Coleen Jose, October 11, 2014, World.Mic
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They've launched a successful mission to Mars, but India's government still has a lot of work to do on a major domestic concern: managing the country's dwindling groundwater resources. And there's one clear party to blame.
In the state of Uttar Pradesh, in northern Indian, farmers are decidedly unhappy with the neighboring Coca-Cola plant that's been rapidly depleting the decade-old area wells. It's been happening for years, but the impact on local resources is finally coming to a tipping point. Farmers living in remote villages have decided to take action against the corporate giant.
"Mexico's Taxes on Junk Food Affect Coke and Pepsi" by Flynna Sarah Molina, Franchise Herald, Oct 11, 2014
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It's not a surprise that Pepsi and Coke are paying millions to go against proposed taxes on sweet drinks in California
PepsiCo released its report that it reached higher quarterly income as international sales increased, however one slow factor was Mexico. The organization pointed at snacks sales dropped by 3 percent, due to the new tax on junk foods.
"The Next Battleground for Soda" by Mark Bittman, The New York Times, OCT. 7, 2014
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"It's difficult for community efforts to fight against big money, and that's something of which the beverage producers have plenty. But by repeating the same message & that sugar-sweetened beverages are deadly when consumed in quantity, and their marketers will not voluntarily restrain themselves from peddling their wares to children & it becomes evident that something must be done.
"The current battlegrounds are Berkeley and San Francisco, where votes will be held on Nov. 4 on local soda taxes. (I'm using 'soda' to mean 'sugar-sweetened beverages,' including some Gatorade and Snapple drinks & which are not really 'sodas' but are also pretty much useless, nutritionally, contain loads of sugar and are certainly taxable sugar-sweetened beverages. 'Diet' sodas, which are really sodas but contain no sugar, are not included but have problems of their own & recent studies suggest they may contribute to diabetes and obesity rather than mitigate them.)
"These are important struggles, because a victory in either place would, I believe (and I'm not alone) begin a snowball effect, as cities with public health and cash crises recognize that by taxing soda they can alleviate both problems associated with each. Funds could be raised for public coffers & money to fight for better public health & and soda consumption could decrease. Also, less soda consumption means better public health as well. A nice cycle, and relatively painless."
Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. Nestle is a leading authority on the evils of the soda industry and has been a strong critic of The Coca-Cola Company:
"Food Politics" (a blog) by Marion Nestle
Visit Website
"The Soda Industry's Promises Mean Nothing" by Marion Nestle, Time, Sept. 30, 2014
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"Americans have gotten the word. Sodas in anything but small amounts are not good for health.
"Although Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association have funded studies that invariably find sodas innocent of health effects, the vast preponderance of research sponsored by the government or foundations clearly demonstrates otherwise.
"Think of sodas as candy in liquid form. They contain astonishing amounts of sugars. A 12-ounce soda contains 10 (!) teaspoons of sugar and provides about 150 calories.
It should surprise no one that adults and children who habitually consume sugary drinks are far more likely to take in fewer nutrients, to weigh more, and to exhibit metabolic abnormalities compared to those who abstain or drink only small amounts.
"And, contrary to expectation, diet sodas don't seem to help...
"If the soda industry really wants to help prevent obesity, it needs to change its current practices. It should stop fighting tax and size initiatives, stop opposing warning labels on sugary drinks, stop lobbying against restrictions on sodas in schools, stop using sports and music celebrities to sell products to children, stop targeting marketing to African-American and Hispanic young people, and stop funding research studies designed to give sodas a clean bill of health."
"Coca-Cola Agrees to Pay $475,000 to Settle OFCCP's Claims for 1,300 Female Applicants" by Jay-Anne Casuga, Bloomberg, September 9, 2014
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"A Coca-Cola bottler in Oklahoma has entered into a $475,000 conciliation agreement with the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to settle agency allegations that the company discriminated against a class of 1,293 female applicants, the DOL announced Sept. 4...
"The OFCCP concluded that female applicants 'were much less likely to be hired than similarly situated male applicants' for merchandiser, driver, driver trainee, production and warehouse positions during a two-year period beginning June 2007, the agency said."
"Berkeley vs. Big Soda" by ROBERT REICH, LA Progressive, September 9, 2014
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"I was phoned the other night in middle of dinner by an earnest young man named Spencer, who said he was doing a survey.
"...He asked me if I knew a soda tax would be on the ballot in Berkeley in November. When I said yes, he then asked whether I trusted the Berkeley city government to spend the revenues wisely...
"So I asked Spencer a couple of questions of my own. Who was financing his survey? 'Americans for Food and Beverage Choice,' he answered. Who was financing this group? 'The American Beverage Association,' he said.
"I didn't get to ask him my third question: Who's financing the American Beverage Association? It didn't matter. I knew the answer: Pepsico and Coca Cola..."
"Coke's history as a worldwide capitalist abuser" by Heather Gray, North Dallas Gazette, August 31, 2014
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"The Coca-Cola Company is, of course, a capitalist company meaning that its goal is to make money virtually any way possible. It's good at this. Its market cap today is $168.7 billion according to Forbes. Since it's founding in the late 1800′s it is now known to be the most recognized product in the world. Its goal of making money is accomplished regardless of the consequences be it environmental degradation, pollution, abuse of and destabilizing water use, worker assassinations, discrimination in the work place, or the health of individuals drinking its product, to name but a few. Promoting a product that requires purchase by huge numbers of individuals in order to make a profit necessitates deliberate efforts at creating a positive public image. It's good at that also but it is simultaneously considered by some as one of the most evil corporations in the world - a designation that suits it well.
"Living in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola, the time has come for me to begin writing about the company, as Alex Cockburn had wanted. The purpose of this article on Coca-Cola is to share an assortment of some of my personal experiences with the corporation in the past few decades in reference to Atlanta, South Africa and the Philippines. For a fairly comprehensive list of criticisms against The Coca-Cola Company throughout the world that I won't be referring to please go to: KillerCoke.org.
"Coca-Cola sued by former employee who complained of alleged harassment, injury" by Kyle Barnett, The Louisiana Record, August 28, 2014
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"An African-American woman who was formerly employed by Coca-Cola is suing after she was allegedly wrongfully terminated after being injured on the job and subjected to sexually and racially motivated harassment.
"Tyressa Gatlin filed suit against Coca-Cola Refreshments in the 24th Judicial District Court on July 21.
"Gatlin contends that she was hired to work in the Coca-Cola Refreshments bottling plant in Harahan on Jan. 6, 2010 for the purpose of hiring and managing 10 regional sales managers working in 320 stores around the New Orleans area. The plaintiff claims she was promised a nine month probationary period when first hired during which time she would learn more about her position and responsibilities. However, Gatlin alleges she was never formally trained.
"The plaintiff asserts that all other district sales managers were trained in the proper way to lift and move heavy objects and how to use supportive back braces. Gatlin claims that during the scope of her employment she worked 12 to 14 hours per day, on call 24 hours per day and was required to stock and transport Coca-Cola products...
"Gatlin alleges she was also disciplined for beginning an investigation, that went to the corporate level, into whether sales associates were expected to purchase via their own means overstock merchandise in order to meet sales quotas. Afterward the plaintiff claims she was placed on a 30-day disciplinary plan and began to be harassed by her boss, including sexually and racially based comments.
"Gatlin asserts that due to the injury and the stress of the harassment she suffered a panic attack on the job on May 23, 2010 and her deteriorating health made it impossible for her to return to work and she was granted a six month leave of absence from May 25 to Dec. 23, 2010, but was notified by human resources on Aug. 19, 2010 that she had in fact been terminated."
“Coca-Cola Buys Stake In Monster Beverage For $2 Billion” by Maggie McGrath, Forbes, August 14, 2014
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"Coca-Cola and Monster Beverage announced Thursday afternoon [8/14/14] that Coke will make a net cash payment of $2.15 billion in exchange for a 16.7% stake in Monster. Coke will also gain two seats on Monster’s board of directors.
"The companies said the deal aims to better-align each of their product portfolio and distribution abilities, and so Coke will transfer ownership of its energy business — which includes drinks like Full Throttle, Burn and Power Play — to Monster, while Monster will transfer its non-energy business — which includes drinks like Hansen’s Natural Sodas, Peace Tea and Hubert’s Lemonade — to Coca-Cola. Monster will also issue Coke shares of its common stock."
Therefore we have taken Hansen's Natural Sodas and Blue Sky soda off our list of Alternatives to Coke.
"PRESS: Coca-Cola Forced to Abandon $25 Million Project in India
"Tries to Save Face by "Withdrawing" Application After Denial by Agency
Press Release, India Resource Center, August 25, 2014
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"The Coca-Cola company has been forced to abandon a $25 million newly built bottling plant in Mehdiganj, Varanasi, India as the result of a sustained campaign against the company's plans. The $25 million plant — which was a significant expansion to its existing plant in Mehdiganj — had already been fully built and the company had also conducted trial runs, but could not operate commercially as it did not have the required permits to operate...
"Somehow having learnt that its application had been rejected, in order to save itself major embarrassment, Coca-Cola sent a letter to the CGWA on Friday, August 22, 2014 - two days before the rejection was to be made public on Monday, August 25, 2014 - stating that it was "withdrawing" its application...
" 'Coca-Cola is a shameless and unethical company that has consistently placed its pursuit of profits over the well-being of communities that live around its facilities. It is absolutely reprehensible for a globally recognized company like Coca-Cola to seek further groundwater allowances from an area that has become acutely water-stressed, and that too in large part due to Coca-Cola's mining of groundwater alone,' said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center which has led the campaign to challenge the new plant."
"Coca-Cola Expansion Plans Rejected
"Campaign Defeats Coca-Cola Ambitions in India"
For Immediate Release | August 22, 2014
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"Coca-Cola's application to expand its bottling plant in Mehdiganj, Varanasi in India has been rejected by the government, according to sources close to the India Resource Center.
"The Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCCBPL), a subsidiary of the Atlanta, US based Coca-Cola Company, had applied in 2012 to the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), to expand its groundwater allowance in Mehdiganj five-fold - from 50,000 cubic meters to 250,000 cubic meters annually.
"The India Resource Center has led the opposition to Coca-Cola's expansion plans in Mehdiganj and has also called for the closure of Coca-Cola's current operations due to the worsening groundwater situation."
Please share "The Honest Coca-Cola Obesity Commercial" with all your contacts.
"'Boycott Coca Cola,' say Spanish workers" By BARRY WEISLEDER, Socialist Action, August 3, 2014
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"I spoke to Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) union organizer Daniel Andres Sobrino about the issues in dispute with the soft drink giant.He told me that Spain's national labour court overturned Coca Cola's dismissal of 1190 workers in that country. The decision was a big boost for the union-led campaign against four factory closures in that depressed economy.The Audiencia Nacional also called for the workers' reinstatement and payment of lost wages."
"Coca-Cola Has Donated more than $3.2 Million to Defeat GMO Labeling: Boycott the Soda Empire" by Christina Sarich, Natural Society, August 4, 2014
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"Coca-Cola and its products are becoming boycotted garbage due to the growing public awareness concerning companies who are supporting the defeat of GMO labeling. Now, you can tell this mega-corporation that while the $3.2 million spent to help defeat Proposition 37 in California and I-522 in Washington may have worked before, the organization is about to lose millions more in public product support. We have a right to know what is in our food, and nothing will stop the grassroots efforts to rid the world of GMO for good.
"People all over the globe are boycotting Coca-Cola, Honest Tea, Odwalla, Zico, Peace Tea, and Vitamin Water until they stop supporting companies like Dow and Monsanto. Many people have stopped drinking Coke itself since it amounts to little more than sugar-water, but their other brands hang in the balance, too, as consumers stand ready to do what it takes to defeat the Grocery Manufacturer's Association (GMA) and biotech...
"Coca-Cola and other soda manufacturers don't want GMO labeling to pass because they use GMO sugar-beets to help sweeten their best-selling products, among other GMO crops."
"How diet cola drinks contain more caffeine than the regular versions" by Daily Mail Reporter, Daily Main (UK), 3 August 2014
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"Diet cola drinks contain higher levels of caffeine than regular versions, according to new research.
"Caffeine is linked to hyperactivity in children, however manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and energy drinks companies are not required to label levels in their products.
"As a result, families do not realise that apparently healthier diet drinks may contain more caffeine, which can effect behaviour...
"Nutritionists and health experts have warned that high-caffeine drinks, often consumed by children, could pose a risk to health and said the test results showed that more needed to be done to safeguard children."
"Introducing the National Soda Tax," Mark Bittman, July 30, 2014, The New York Times
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"Get this: Rosa DeLauro, the brave and beloved 12-term congresswoman from New Haven, will be introducing a bill in the House of Representatives Wednesday that would require a national tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
"And it's about time. You know the big picture, even if you've forgotten the details, so I'm going to spare you the stats about obesity and diabetes that have been reiterated here and elsewhere ad infinitum. (If you want a refresher course, see this.) Suffice it to say that sugar-sweetened beverages are linked to obesity and diabetes, and that some form of control is needed. Many sugar-sweetened beverages contain more sugar per bottle than the American Heart Association's recommended daily limit and the Department of Agriculture's guidelines for sugar. (The Food and Drug Administration has not set standards for sugar consumption.)...
"But a national tax would be much tidier. Just eight months after it took effect, Mexico's soda tax is starting to show positive results & consumption is down, at least & and we could expect a similar performance from DeLauro's proposed bill. The SWEET Act (as she's calling it) would amend the I.R.S. code and charge a penny per teaspoon of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or other caloric sweeteners & "to be paid by the manufacturer, producer or importer of such products." This would mean roughly a dime per can of soda, closer to 20 cents for a 20-ounce bottle or most medium-size soft drinks at restaurants. (Remember 6.5-ounce Cokes? The 20-ounce standard in part explains the obesity crisis.)"
July 18-20 demonstrations by striking Coca-Cola and Panrico workers in Madrid and Barcelona
Sales of Coca-Cola in Spain are reported to have slumped by half, in the wake of a call for a boycott of the product over an attempt by the company's Spanish bottler to lay off workers.
Note from striker: "Thank you, very much to promote the news against Coke in Spain. I've been in contact with you before and I'm one of the 236 people that are fighting against the capitalist Coke Company. We have at the moment been on strike for 158 days and we have beaten the company in the courts, but we are still waiting to get our jobs back because Coke went to the Supreme Court. We just can say thanks for all your help and we are still promoting a Coke boycott in Span until we get our jobs back."
"Coca-Cola sales nosedive in Spain after boycott call over layoff plan," euronews, June 20, 2014
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"According to the newspaper El Economista, the sharp fall over a one-year period represents the largest decline ever recorded by the soft drinks giant.
"It is the second piece of bad news in a week for Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, which resulted from a merger of several bottlers in 2013. Last Friday, June 13, it was ordered by a court to reinstate more than 800 workers as its controversial redundancy plan backfired.
"In January, the company's Spanish subsidiary confirmed plans for a massive cost-cutting operation involving the closure of four of its 11 factories in Spain and the layoff of 1,190 employees, almost a third of the total workforce.
The news gained widespread attention, coming as it did from a profit-making firm in a country where more than one in four of the workforce is unemployed. Street protests followed, as did a campaign for consumers to shun Coke products...
"According to El Economista, in central Spain — the region which includes Madrid — sales diminished by 48.6 percent in the one-year period from 28 February 2013 to 28 February 2014."
"Coca-Cola plant closed down in Varanasi, for water and land pollution," AsiaNews.it, 06-17-14
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"A great success after 14 years of struggle", said to AsiaNews fr. Anand Mathew IMS, commenting the closure of Coca-Cola plant in Mehdiganj, closed to Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). On June 6 the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the primary central government agency for monitoring pollution, has ordered the plant to be closed. It was held responsible for water shortages and pollution.
Since 2002 Indian Missionary Society (IMS) fr. Mathew has opposed the plant and supported local population. "For this struggle I was imprisoned in 2004 and 2005. Our movement has been made with women and marginalized farmers. Nowhere in India there is such a platform where people of different denomination come together. It was something very unusual for me, and it gives a lot of hope for the future Church, a Church beyond denominations", said the catholic priest, who's been director of cultural centre Vishwa Jyoti Communications in Varanasi for over a decade.
Coca-Cola's bottling operations in Mehdiganj have been the subject of intense public protests since 2003 and the emerging details of Coca-Cola's planned expansion have anguished many community members. Mehdiganj is an agrarian area and farmers use the same depleting groundwater resource to meet all their water needs.
In addition to over-extraction of groundwater, Coca-Cola is also guilty of polluting groundwater resources around its bottling plants in India. In 2003, the CPCB tested the waste from nine Coca-Cola bottling plants and found that all nine were violating the hazardous waste laws of India. CPCB found that the waste from all nine bottling plants had exceeded levels of lead, cadmium or chromium. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola was distributing its toxic waste to farmers around its bottling plants, as fertilizer.
In the case of Mehdiganj, CPCB found excessive levels of cadmium and chromium in the waste from Coca-Cola bottling plant that it had tested. Subsequently, two others tests conducted by other groups (in 2008 and 2010) have also found contamination in and around Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Mehdiganj, including heavy metals.
The company has consistently denied the allegations.
"Coca-Cola Plant Shut Down in India; Authorities Cancel License for Coca-Cola's Mehdiganj Plant," India Resource Center, June 18, 2014
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Coca-Cola's bottling plant has been shut down by state government authorities in Mehdiganj in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) ordered the plant to shut down because it found the company to be violating a number of conditions of its license, or "No Objection Certificate" (NOC)...
UPPCB closure order also noted that Coca-Cola had increased its production capacity from 20,000 cases per day to 36,000 without the Board's permission, and suggested that the company may have misled the Board about the actual amount of industrial waste discharge (which has remained constant, according to Coca-Cola, in spite of increasing production by 80%). The Board also cast doubt on Coca-Cola's waste treatment plant, noting that the "Treatment System/Plant" was not operating "smoothly/properly".
Coca-Cola had been seeking to expand the capacity of its existing plant in Mehdiganj five-fold, part of its aggressive growth strategy of India which in 2012 announced an additional $5 billion investment by 2020 as sales in industrialized countries decline or stagnate due to health concerns.
Coca-Cola has approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT), an environmental court in India, appealing against the decision of the UPPCB and has asked to be allowed to re-open its shut down facility. The NGT has not yet allowed the plant to reopen in the three hearings so far.
The closure of Coca-Cola's bottling plant comes at the peak of Coca-Cola's sales season in India, and the company has cited financial losses to the NGT as a reason for reopening the plant quickly.
Welcoming the closure of Coca-Cola's plant, Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti who has spearheaded the local campaign said, "We knew it was a matter of time before the government acknowledged the demands of the community. This is a great victory and a welcome confirmation that local communities can successfully take on big, powerful business..."
Coca-Cola has also been forced to shut down another bottling plant in India in 2004 — in Plachimada in the state of Kerala, and faces legislation holding it liable for $47 million in damages as a result of its operations. The company is also the target of a major community campaign in Kala Dera in Rajasthan where the community is seeking closure of the bottling plant due to rapidly depleting ground water. Most recently, Coca-Cola's plants to build a new factory in Charba in Uttarakhand were defeated almost as soon as the proposal was made public in 2013, testament to how quickly and efficiently communities can organize and network in India against problematic companies such as Coca-Cola.
"AAFP & Coca-Cola: Unhealthy Bedfellows" by Richard Bruno, MD and Orlando Sola, The Maryland familydoctor, Summer 2014
Read article on pages 26-28
"Since 2009 the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has had a financial relationship with the Coca-Cola company (TCCC), providing advertising space and consultation in creating what they define as "healthier" forms of sugar-sweetened beverages in exchange for contributions totaling over $1 million. This corporate sponsorship is justified by the argument it keeps membership fees down and assists in maintenance of services. For the past four years, students and residents - the future of family medicine - have requested that the AAFP Board of Directors end any relationship with corporations that are associated with products that contribute to poor health outcomes, thus aligning the AAFP's financial and public health priorities. The question continues to be raised in our minds as it should be in yours: How did we come to this alliance in the first place?"
Big Losses for Coca-Cola: July 7, 2014 Newsletter
Contents of the Newsletter
- Spain: Coke Sales Plummet: Court Orders 821 Workers Re-instated with Back Pay
- India: Coke Hit with Heavy Losses as Communities Fight Back
- United States: Port Townsend Food Co-op Drops Honest Tea Over Coke's Abuses
- Nicaragua: Fighting Back Against Coke's Multi-million Dollar Rip-off
- Mexico: Coke Bottler's Holbox Island Land Grab Efforts Draw Ire
- American Academy of Pediatrics Falls Prey to Greed & "Insanity"
- Corporate Crime Reporter and IndiaCSR Report on 'Buying Respectability: Coca-Cola Co-opts Corporate Social Responsibility Movement'
"Coca Cola ordered to reinstate staff," Austrailian Associated Press, June 14, 2014
Read Article
A Spanish court has ordered US drinks giant Coca-Cola to reinstate more than 800 workers...who say the company has no right to cut jobs when it is making a profit.
Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, the regional branch of the US company, had planned 1,190 layoffs of which 821 had been carried out.
The National Court in Madrid...said the company had not adequately informed or negotiated with workers about the restructuring and had undermined their right to strike by hiring outside workers.
It ordered the company to reinstate the 821 and pay them their outstanding salaries.
Workers Unite! Film Festival Special Event
Films Exposing Coke's Abuses Against Children, Unionists & the Environment & NYU's Ties to Coca-Cola
Date: Sunday, May 18, 2014
Time: 2 to 5 pm
Place: Judson Memorial Church 55 Washington Square South
New York City — Manhattan (wheelchair access at 243 Thompson St.)
General Agenda:
- Announcing plans for the 'NYU Dump Coke Campaign 2014/2015'
- Film shorts challenging Coke
- Music by famous NYC Labor Chorus
- Film: The Coca-Cola Case
"Buying Respectability: Coca-Cola Co-Opts Corporate Social Responsibility Movement,"
Corporate Crime Reporter, April 22, 2014
Read Article
"In an open letter to the Calvert Group and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), Rogers challenges the groups' designation of Coca-Cola as 'socially responsible,' with detailed documentation of Coca-Cola's human rights, child welfare, and environmental abuses spanning decades...
" 'The scofflaw Coca-Cola Company is out of control and even its biggest cheerleaders and stockholders,Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, can't hide the damage their company is doing on a worldwide scale,' Rogers said."
Coca-Cola and the Secret Formula
A film by Olivia Mokiejewski
During this documentary shown on France 2 in January 2013, journalist Olivia Mokiejewski explained that she was a longtime Coke drinker who grew skeptical after hearing reports about the soda's potentially harmful effects. After not getting the answers she wanted through open-source channels, Mokiejewski bought shares of Coca-Cola in order to gain access to last year's annual general meeting, during which she was filmed asking Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent where the corporation gets its coca from, and why, for example, it continues to put so much sugar in its drinks and use artificial-coloring agents. From the looks of it, Kent was unamused.
Although France 2 receives more than 2.3 million Euros ( more than $3.1 million) in advertising from Coke, they still had the courage to run this film, "Coca-Cola Et La Formule Secrete (Coca-Cola and the Secret Formula), that is critical of the beverage company on a number of fronts.
Some of the film was shot at the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke headquarters and highlights some of the issues on which we have been working.
As you go on in the film to about 35:00, there is a conversation in Spanish and French. At the bottom of the video, you can choose "English" for the subtitles.
Prominent Religious Leaders Call for NYU to Remove Coca-Cola Products & Board Member
March 17, 2014
Dear President Sexton and Members of the University Senate,
For some years now, members of the faith community have been aware of the terrible record of the Coca-Cola Company with respect to labor, human rights, and environmental issues. Coca-Cola, as you know, also plays a major role in the controversy surrounding childhood obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes epidemics.
We have recently learned that Barry Diller, a member of The Coca-Cola Company's Board of Directors, is also a member of NYU's Board of Trustees and a very large stockholder in Coca-Cola. As a board member and a stockholder, Mr. Diller himself, as well Coca-Cola, must be held accountable. NYU took the moral high road from 2005-2009 by removing all Coke products and banning the marketing of Coca-Cola beverages, but brought Coke back on campus based on false premises and in violation of the University Senate Resolution which led to its removal in the first place. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Diller purchased another $20 million of Coca-Cola stock and now owns some $160,000,000 worth.
Since Coca-Cola returned to NYU, there have been a number of books, reports, news articles, documentary films, lawsuits and websites documenting this company's sordid past and present criminal and other unethical conduct. Charges of Coca-Cola's complicity in violence against union leaders and members of their families in Colombia and the company's actions to prevent any legitimate independent investigation lead to Coke's ban in 2005. Since then the company has become embroiled in numerous other human rights lawsuits filed on behalf of current and fired Black and Latino workers for racial discrimination and for violence in Guatemala. The "New York Daily News" reported on lawsuits describing Coca-Cola plants in New York City and Westchester County as "cesspools of racial discrimination." NYU should once again remove all Coca-Cola products from campus indefinitely and publicly censure Mr. Diller or demand his resignation from NYU's board.
A campaign is growing among students, the faith community, and human rights groups to hold Coca-Cola accountable. I am available to discuss this matter with anyone at NYU or beyond.
Sincerely,
Rev. David W. Dyson
Pastor Emeritus, Lafayette Ave. Presbyterian Church
718-633-0171
ddysonlapc@gmail.com
Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper
Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church
Download the Original Letter in .PDF
The Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, formerly at Coral Gables Congregational Church in Miami and before that at Yale University, is Senior Minister for the landmark Judson Memorial Church surrounded by New York University in Greenwich Village. She began this post in 2005 and will be ordained 40 years in 2014. As an elder, she is passionately concerned about leaving the next generation well prepared for all they have to face.
Schaper's purpose in life is to provide spiritual nurture for public capacity. She likes to "kick hope into high gear" and show people what is possible through the magnificence of human community strategically focused and spiritually filled. Her plan at Judson is to be a steward of an extraordinary legacy and to carry the church into the 21st century in terms of organization, vision, resources and courage. Writing about Rev. Schaper, The Huffington Post reported that, "A current project at Judson Memorial Church is the New Sanctuary Movement, a place where immigrants about to be detained or deported can be sheltered. She also works on 'Bailout', giving human beings a hand in a hard time. Bailout Theater meets every Wednesday at Judson with a free meal and great entertainment."
Schaper is no stranger to controversy, having led her Miami congregation through an institutional transformation that opened it to gays, Jews, anti-war protests and significant membership growth. Her 31 published books tell the tale of her interfaith marriage, her pioneer as an ordained woman, her quiet spirituality and noisy activism. One of the first women trained by Saul Alinsky, the founder of community organization strategies, Schaper has focused on issues of political and economic development and interfaith and open rituals, which support action for social change.
Rev. David Dyson, upon his retirement as pastor of Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York in 2011, was described by The Brooklyn Paper as a "spunky Fort Greene pastor and labor organizer who transformed his church into a center for social justice." The article, "Rev. 'Call me Dave' Dyson retires at Lafayette Ave Presbyterian," says Dave made headlines in the church press by "openly flouting the Presbyterian's rule against hiring gays as church officers, an act that is considered "ecclesiastical civil disobedience."
Pastor Dave "pushed his members to fight for gay rights and worker's issues and rallied against the use of eminent domain to pave the way for Atlantic Yards." His labor activism included serving as a boycott coordinator for the United Farm Workers in California and driver and bodyguard for famed farm worker leader Cesar Chavez. After his work on the J P Stevens Boycott fighting for southern textile workers, Dave co-founded the National Labor Committee, which was instrumental in creating the anti-sweatshop movement. Later he served as Executive Minister of the Riverside Church.
When asked by The New York Times what he admired he responded, "Chavez, like King, was a deeply spiritual person, and both of them saw the figure of Jesus in both of their lives not as someone to be put on a pedestal and worshipped, but as someone to be followed, whose example should be followed. And who did Jesus hang out with? The oppressed and working class of his day."
WestView News March 2014
Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections
Dear Editor,
It's no secret that NYU's land grabbing schemes have upset many residents and NYU faculty. But other issues involving scandals and lack of ethics by administrators and board members continue to plague NYU and besmirch its reputation. Both President John Sexton and NYU Trustee Barry Diller have exhibited unbridled greed and dishonesty in the face of exorbitant tuition rates and reprehensible corporate crimes.
In 2005, NYU pledged to protect human rights by kicking Coca-Cola off campus in light of revelations of Coke's complicity in human rights abuses and ongoing cover-ups from Latin America to India and the U.S. NYU brought Coke back in 2009 because it embarrassed the old boys' network and didn't fit in with the interests of CocaCola board member Diller, who has amassed $160,000,000 of Coca-Cola stock. It's time for NYU to dump Coke, dump Diller and reaffirm its commitment to human rights and social justice.
Ray Rogers
KillerCoke.org
The WestView News is distributed to 20,000 residents and businesses in Greenwich Village.
Download Original in .PDFROCLA's Rice & Beans and White Dove awards ceremony 2014
ROCLA's [Rochester Committee on Latin America] 26th Annual Rice & Beans and White Dove Awards dinner was held on March 14, 2014 at the Gates Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY.
This year's White Dove award recipients were Ray Rogers, director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, and locally, the Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO, with Jim Bertolone accepting the award on behalf of the RLC.
View on YouTube
"The Video That Coca-Cola And McDonald’s Hope You Never See and You Should Watch NOW!" by Anna Lappe, March 10, 2014
"Can you guess how much money the food industry spends marketing to kids? It’s a shocking amount, but here’s the thing — it’s not enough to just turn off the television. Now kids are marketed to on every platform, including sponsored ads on some school’s workbooks.
"If that’s not bad enough some companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi are straight-up conning school communities to buy their products as ways to 'fund education'. Thankfully there are some valiants warriors fighting these food behemoths and saving generations to come. Find out more in my TEDx Talk 'Marketing Food to Children: Anna Lappe at TEDxManhattan'."
"Activists campaign to rid Binghamton University of Coca-Cola Co. and Reynolds Group products; Ray Rogers and Students Organizing Against Reynolds discuss alleged immoral business practices by soda giant" by Margaret-Rose Roazzi, Pipe Dream, March 14, 2014
Read Article
"In an attempt to get students to think twice about their soft drinks, activists spoke Thursday night about allegations of human rights abuses by the Coca-Cola and Reynolds companies.
"Ray Rogers, founder of Corporate Campaign, Inc., speaks to students Thursday night about the "Killer Coke" campaign. Rogers, an anti-Coca-Cola activist, claimed that the soda company has illegal and immoral business practices that harm its employees.
"Students Organizing Against Reynolds (SOAR) and Ray Rogers, the founder of Corporate Campaign, Inc., spoke about their mission to remove Coca-Cola Co. and Reynolds Group products from the campus.
" I drink a lot of Coke so I think I'm turned off now,' [Maggie] Walsh said. 'I don't think we should be putting a company that's clearly violating so many laws and supporting so many injustices into our campus and supporting that system.'
" 'It was so eye-opening,' [Jessica] Dunn said. 'I didn't know any of this stuff about Coke. I am so concerned, and I am definitely motivated to take some action.'
" 'Here is the issue of mandatory overtime,' [Kai Wen}Yang said. 'Right now, SOAR is demanding that mandatory overtime be ended, and workers ... should be able to control their working hours.' "
"SOAR, CCI seek to oust Coca-Cola on campus; Groups cite corruption and human rights violations of 'Killer Coke'" by Margaret-Rose Roazzi, Pipe Dream [University of Binghamton/SUNY], March 10, 2014
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"While most people consider drinking soda to be unhealthy, Students Organizing Against Reynolds (SOAR) and Corporate Campaign, Inc. (CCI) say Coca-Cola is a killer.
"SOAR and CCI will be hosting a presentation titled 'For a Reynolds- and Coke-Free SUNY Binghamton Campus' Thursday to raise awareness about the work conditions for employees of the Coca-Cola Company and Reynolds Group, a packaging company that works with the Coca-Cola Company...
" 'The Coca-Cola Company operates like a criminal syndicate with impunity,' Rogers said. 'They've operated like that in the past, and they're operating like that now, and any university that has Coca-Cola corrode its system like the University of Binghamton really has a major corporate criminal that they're promoting on their campus...'
"SOAR, a New York City-based organization, formed in 2012 to call for the end of mandatory overtime, workplace discrimination and union-busting in the Reynolds Group and its subsidiary, Pactiv Corporation.
" 'I joined SOAR because I agree with what SOAR is calling for, which is the end of mandatory overtime, or forced overtime works,' said Yang, a doctoral student studying sociology. 'Mandatory overtime and long working hours are not just issues of immigrant workers, but also issues that face graduating college students who are looking for a job & if they don't have one already & and by students who are taking up internship positions. Many interns are working long hours with no pay. To end mandatory overtime is to say that students, as workers, should also have the right to control their working hours.'
"Rogers said the University's association with the Coca-Cola Company and Reynolds Group makes the University itself seem corrupt.
" 'The culture that [the Coca-Cola Company and Reynolds Group] represent is corruption and a violation of human rights, and no University should want to be associated with that,' Rogers said. 'I give the students and faculty members that get involved so much credit when they raise these issues.' "
"Sugar adviser linked to Coca-Cola 'will not act' on UN guidance: Doctors and MPs accuse officials of 'immense arrogance' for ignoring suggested limits" by Sophie Borland, Daily Mail [UK], March 10, 2014
Read Article
"A radical UN recommendation to halve sugar intake will not be implemented in Britain says a Whitehall adviser on nutrition who has worked for Mars and Coca-Cola.
"Professor Ian MacDonald, head of a panel of health experts in charge of drawing up guidelines on sugar, said it will 'not act' on the World Health Organisation's proposal.
"The move led to fury yesterday as senior doctors and MPs accused officials of 'immense arrogance' for ignoring the suggested limit of six teaspoons a day, in the face of an obesity crisis that threatens to overwhelm the NHS...
"And campaigners last night accused Professor MacDonald - who only recently left the pay of the two fast food giants - of being 'in the pocket' of the sugar industry.
"He is one of six scientists on the panel of eight who have links to manufacturers of sugary foods...
" 'The problem is his research money is so dependent on these firms that you have to ask the question, is he in their pocket?' "
"SERAP Drags Coca-Cola, NBC To UN Over Harmful Drinks, Abuse Of Right To Health," Channels Television, February 26, 2014
Read Article
"Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged Coca-Cola Limited and the Nigerian Bottling Company [NBC] Limited to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights over 'serious breaches of corporate responsibility to respect the right to health of Nigerians and the failure to provide effective remedies to victims...'
"SERAP's petition followed last week's disclosure by the Nigerian Consumer Protection Council (CPC) of cases of harmful drinks including two half-empty cans of Sprite, a product manufactured by the NBC under the license and authority of Coca-Cola Limited, and rusty bottle crown corks, rusty cans and foreign particles in products. The CPC also said that these companies have failed to put in place a Shelf Life Policy for their products in the country to facilitate the removal of expired products from the market...
" 'The human rights abuses by Coca-Cola and NBC illustrate the lack of explicit human rights policies by several companies operating in Nigeria and which have continued to contribute to the violations and abuses of the economic and social rights of millions of Nigerians. Even companies with human rights policies have failed and or neglected to effectively implement these policies for the sake of profit,' the organisation added."
"Keep Australia Beautiful and Coca-Cola crush container deposit schemes"
Read Article
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/02/2014
Reporter: Matt Peacock
"There are revelations that Keep Australia Beautiful has teamed up with their major donor Coca-Cola to help crush proposed container deposit schemes around Australia.
"Each year, Australians throw away an estimated seven billion cans and bottles which end up as litter or landfill. In a few weeks' time, Environment ministers are due to decide whether to introduce a national deposit scheme for drink containers to ensure this waste is recycled.
"Schemes already exist in South Australia and the Northern Territory, but industry, and in particular Coca-Cola, is fiercely resisting a national scheme and recently Coke has secured a surprising partner in opposing container deposits, the organisation Keep Australia Beautiful...
"Industry is bitterly opposed and last year the big bottlers, Coca-Cola, Lyon Nathan and Schweppes, temporarily froze a similar Northern Territory scheme with a successful Federal Court challenge. It sparked angry words from Clean Up Australia's founder outside Coca-Cola's Sydney headquarters.
"IAN KIERNAN, FOUNDER, CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA (2013): It was legislated for. And now we have a multinational [Coca-Cola] that is trying to overturn our democratic process. Say no to the product."
"University revisits past ban on Coca-Cola" By John Ambrosio, Washington Square News, February 12, 2014
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"Five years after NYU lifted its ban on Coca-Cola products, union activist and Corporate Campaign, Inc. director Ray Rogers brings the debate over the soft drink company's labor practices back into the public eye. Rogers sent a letter and a critical pamphlet to 130 university administrators last week, imploring them to reinstate the ban on Coke products.
" 'We are reaching out to you hoping that NYU will do the right thing again and remove all Coke vending machines and products from campus facilities,' Rogers said in the letter.
"Rogers said the ban, which lasted from 2005 to 2009, was placed due to accusations that Coke was committing human rights violations in Colombia. He said the embargo was lifted prematurely and at the behest of those with interests in Coke's profit margin in both his recent letter and on his website, Killer Coke.
"Specifically Rogers said, Arthur Tannenbaum, the University Senate member who introduced the resolution lifting the ban, attempted to protect the interests of Coke and Barry Diller, a member of both the Board of Coke and the NYU Board of Trustees..."
"Indian officials push to demolish 'illegal' Coca-Cola bottling plant, "January 25, 2014, RT.com
Read Article
"Officials in a province in northern India have promised to destroy a Coca-Cola bottling plant that has for years infuriated citizens in the area who claim the facility extracts more than its fair share of groundwater...
"Manoj Rai, the subordinate revenue administrative officer, said Friday that he expects to 'implement the demolition orders in a couple of days. There is no question of not following the order.'
"The Vansari plant is one of 58 Coke plants throughout India. However, its apparent propensity to extract too much groundwater and pollute soil in the area has inspired protests for years. One such event, in 2006, lasted for over three months and culminated with a hunger strike among the local population and activists demanding the plant cease operations.
"Along with polluting agricultural fields and bodies of water with toxins, the plant was reportedly responsible for lowering farm yields and consistently intimidating those who spoke out against it."
"The Unhealthy Truth Behind the Coca-Cola Label," January 23, 2014, Keeper of the Home, By Elsie Callender
Read Article
Problem 1: Phosphoric Acid
Problem 2: Sugar
Problem 3: Coloring
Problem 4: Artificial sweeteners
Problem 5: Caffeine
"Authorities Move to Evict Coca-Cola from Illegally Occupied Land: Government Finds Coca-Cola Guilty of "Land Grab," India Resource Center. Press Release, January 22, 2014
Read Press Release
"Coca-Cola has proposed to expand its production at its bottling plant in Mehdiganj five-fold, a move strongly opposed by the local communities because of the declining groundwater conditions in the area.
A British company, Mott MacDonald, claims to have finished construction of the expanded facility and some of the new construction is evidently on the illegally occupied land. Coca-Cola has not been able to begin operations in the expanded facility because it does not have all the required permits — primarily due to the objections raised by the community.
" 'We are looking forward to reclaiming the community-owned land that belongs rightfully to the people. We will not rest until Coca-Cola is evicted,' said Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti, the local community group that has been at the forefront of the campaign.
"The Supreme Court of India has also raised serious concerns regarding illegal land grabs of community held land by private parties. In a ruling dated January 28, 2011, the Supreme Court made it clear that any structures built on illegal land would have to be demolished, and also directed all 'State Governments in the country that they should prepare schemes for eviction of illegal/unauthorized occupants of Gram Sabha/Gram Panchayat/Poramboke/Shamlat land and these must be restored to the Gram Sabha/Gram Panchayat for the common use of villagers of the village...'
" 'Coca-Cola's land grab in India, as confirmed by government authorities, makes a mockery of their so called "zero tolerance" commitment towards land grabs. If Coca-Cola is serious, they should immediately return the community-owned land to the village council, as demanded by the government authorities,' said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, an international campaigning group."
COKE-THE DRINK THAT REPRESSES WITH RAY ROGERS, January 11, 2014
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Corporate criminality is increasingly recognized because of blatant corruption like that revealed in the BP spill, JP Morgan and other banksters getting away with destroying the economy and Walmart's abuse of its employees, whose workers have to depend on tax money to meet their basic needs. What is less well known is that Coca-Cola is literally getting away with complicity in murder in Latin America.
