History

= What is the history? =

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest producer, manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages. The company sells its products in more than 200 countries worldwide (1). More than 1.5 billion beverage servings from The Coca-Cola Company are consumed around the globe each day (1). The social and environmental impacts of the massive production and consumption of Coca-Cola products has had negative impact society. Sustainability issues relating to our environment and even alleged violent repressions in some parts of the world have arisen since the company began to dominate the scene since 1892.

Coca-Cola is blamed for a number of actions detrimental to society. The first and probably the most damaging is Coca-Cola’s dehydrating of local communities in poor nations in its quest for water resources to feed its factories, then the air and water pollution caused by pesticides used in the production process of its beverages, and finally, the accusation of use of paramilitaries to engage in anti-union violence.

Since water is a paramount resource of which the company’s own existence is based on, Coca-Cola has been aggressive towards procuring it. Studies show that it takes three litres of water to make one litre of Coca-Cola (2). These figures are not just for the water included in the beverage itself but also for the industrial cleaning and other purposes. Realizing this, Coca-Cola object continues to acquire more water reserves that date back hundreds and thousands of years. The company’s practices have purportedly resulted in the acceleration in the depletion of water reserves in poor and arid countries overseas, particularly the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, India (3).

Ever since Coca-Cola set up its factories in these states, studies done by the War or Want Group show that inhabitants are in danger of running out of water if Coca-Cola’s action go unabated. Official documents verify that water levels, which were already poor, fell considerably once Coca-Cola’s plant started operations (4). Rajasthan now stands the chance of being a “dark zone”, a term used to depict places that are deserted because of vanquished water supply. The depleting water level has left the locals to live with little or nothing to use in their farms and as a result many livelihoods are in danger (5).

In March 2004, Coca-Cola was forced to close its factory in Plachimada, India because local council denied the renewing of the company’s contract on the grounds that it had over-used and contaminated local water resources (6). High levels of the pesticide DDT were found in the water table and even in Coca-Cola’s beverages by the independent Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in 2003 (8). The test found levels of pesticides in the company’s beverages to be in the neighbourhood of thirty times higher than that of the European Union standard. In 2004, Mps in India verified and upheld the CSE's studies and then went on to ban Coca-Cola beverages in school cafeterias (9).

Coca-Cola practices do not end with the misuse and abuse of natural resources. The company’s own employees have also endured hardships, in the form of violence and sometimes death. Furthermore, the company is being more and more linked with anti-union activities. The most notorious of which is in Colombia, where anti-unionists have murdered eight Coca-Cola workers dating back to 1990 (10). Sinaltrainal, a Coca-Cola trade union is seeking to hold the company responsible for using paramilitary agents to indulge in anti-union violence (11). Elsewhere, Nicaraguan employees at the Coca-Cola union SUTEC are being deprived of the right to organize leading the General Secretary of the union, Daniel Reyes, to believe that Coca-Cola’s objective doing this is to crush the union (12). Similar cases are also occurring in other South American countries such as Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador and Mexico (13).

References 1. //U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Home Page)//. Web. 06 Mar. 2010. <[]>. 2. Richards, Louise. "Coca-Cola: The Alternative Report." //Coca-Cola: The Alternative Report//. War on Want, Mar. 2006. Web. 6 Mar. 2010. <[]>. 3. Ministry of Water Resources, Central Ground Water Board, Report on Press Clippings on Withdrawal of Ground Water by Coca Cola Factory at Kaladera, District Jaipur, Rajasthan, July 2004 4. Ibid 5. High Court Ruling, Perumatty Grama Panchayat vs State of Kerala Judgement, 16/12/2003; Paul Brown, ‘Coca-Cola in India accused of leaving farms parched and land poisoned’, The Guardian, 25/7/2003 6. BBC News, ‘India to test Coca-Cola sludge’, 7/8/2003; BBC News, ‘Coca-Cola’s “toxic” India fertiliser’, 25/7/2003 7. Ibid 8. Centre for Science and Environment, Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Soft Drinks, New Delhi, 5/8/2003 9. Randeep Ramesh, ‘Soft-drink giants accused over pesticides’, The Guardian, 5/2/2004; BBC News, ‘India finds pesticides in colas’, 4/8/2004 10. George Wright, ‘Coca-Cola Withdraws Bottled Water from UK’, The Guardian, 19/3/2004 10. Lesley Gill, ‘Labor and Human Rights: “The Real Thing” in Colombia’, Report to the Human Rights Committee of the American Anthropological Association, 28/11/2004; ‘Colombian Union Renews Coke Suit’, Financial Times, 16/4/2004 11. Elizabeth Woyke, ‘Coke’s Colombia Conundrum: Can the soft drinks giant still the storm over human rights?’, The Independent on Sunday, 15/1/2006 12. Rel-UITA, ‘A los trabajadores de FEMSA no se les reconoce el derecho a sindicalizarse’, 28/11/2005 13. Rel-UITA, ‘FEMSA Wants to Break Up Union’, 9/1/2006