Page 5 - IAV Digital Magazine #423

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Nigerians Boycott Coca-Cola Drinks After Court Rules Them "Poisonous"
By Paul Adepoju and Kieron Monks, CNN
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Consumers of Sprite and Fanta have more to worry about than rotting teeth according to a Lagos High Court judge, who ruled that the Coca-Cola products could be "poisonous."
The court held that high levels of ben- zoic acid and sunset additives in the pop- ular soft drinks could pose a health risk to consumers when mixed with ascorbic acid, commonly known as vitamin C, according to local media.
Justice Adedayo Oyebanji ordered the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) to place written warn- ings on Fanta and Sprite bottles against drinking them with vitamin C, and awarded costs of two million naira ($6,350) against the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
for failing to ensure health standards.
"It is manifest that NAFDAC has been grossly irresponsible in its regulatory duties to the con- sumers of Fanta and Sprite manufactured by Nigeria Bottling Company," the judge said. "NAFDAC has failed the citizens of this great nation by its certification as satisfactory for human consumption products ... which become poisonous in the presence of ascorbic acid."
The incendiary judg- ment followed a law- suit brought against regulator NAFDAC andtheNBC--a member of Coca- Cola Hellenic group which bottles Coca- Cola products in Nigeria -- by Lagos businessman Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo.
The claimant's com- pany, Fijabi Adebo Holdings Limited, attempted to export Coca-Cola products to the United Kingdom for retail in February 2007.
But authorities in the UK seized and sub- sequently destroyed a shipment, Adebo claimed, because the products con- tained excessive levels of sunset yel- low and benzoic acid. The latter sub- stance can form the carcinogen benzene when combined with ascorbic acid, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Lawyers for the NBC argued that the
products were not intended for export, but Justice Adedayo Oyebanji rejected this defense.
"Soft drinks manu- factured by Nigeria Bottling Company ought to be fit for human consumption irrespective of color or creed," the judge said.
Mr Adebo was pleased by the ver- dict but vowed to pursue further dam- ages.
"I'm happy that I'm victorious and we've alerted Nigerians
and the entire world to what is happening in Nigeria," the busi- nessman told CNN. "What the court fined NAFDAC is not one tenth of the amount I've spent
on litigation ... We should have been awarded at least the amount that we spent in purchasing that product and in exporting it to UK. We are entitled to special damages for what we have gone through."
Both the NBC and NAFDAC are
appealing against the ruling, arguing that the Coca-Cola products do not exceed benzoic acid limits for Nigeria or international limits set by Codex, the international food standards body administered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
"The UK standards limit benzoic acid in soft drinks to a max- imum of 150 mg/kg. Both Fanta and Sprite have benzoic levels of 200 mg/kg which is lower than the Nigerian regula- tory limit of 250 mg/kg," wrote Sade Morgan, legal, public affairs and commu- nications director of the NBC.
"The permissible ingredient levels set by countries for their food and beverage products are influ- enced by a number of factors such as climate, an example being the UK, a tem- perate region, requiring lower pre- servative levels unlike tropical coun- tries."
4
661-266-4-ADS
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine