Coca Cola
Contents
Coca Cola in India
Background
Environmental Impact
Social Impact
Coca Cola’s practices have had serious social impacts particularly on the community who live in Plachimida in the Kerala region of India. These include health problems and considerable damage to the livelihoods of this community. Coca Cola claim that they not only function in ways that will be beneficial to their company but act in ways that will also be beneficial to the health and livelihoods of local people as according to Coca Cola they seek to “improve the quality of life, and foster good will in communities" (http://www2.cocacola.com/ourcompany/pdf/2004_citizenship_report.pdf)1. However evidence suggests that Coca Cola’s are not fulfilling this promise as Coca Cola’s practices in Kerala seem to have had devastating social impacts on the lives of the communities located near to Coca Cola’s factories.
The main complaint made against Coca Cola is that they are depleting much needed ground water in Kerala to use in their factories. This has meant that many people are unable to draw enough water from their wells which has had obvious social impacts particularly for women in Kerala who are forced to travel on foot to collect water. They must then carry back heavy jugs of water as according to A Cockburn “women in Plachimada have to walk a 4-kilometer round trip to get drinkable water, toting the big vessels on hip or head�
(http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn04162005.html)2 with this water not lasting long as it must be used for drinking, cooking and washing. The journey can therefore often take all day as available water can be so far away therefore it can leave women in Kerala feeling exhausted especially as they are not able to drink a sufficient amount of water during the journey as it is needed for the whole family.
It is not only the lack of water that is having social impacts on the effected communities as it is also the quality of the water that is effecting people’s lives. The poor quality of water has had consequences on people’s health therefore they are forced to travel to get clean water. It has been claimed by the communities in Kerala that the water that remains in their wells has a horrible taste and has a hard consistency which means that no one can drink it or even use it to cook with. It has been that reported that people have experienced illnesses due to drinking the water “as while the water used to be fine to drink, now what is left at the bottom of the well gives them sever stomach pains and headaches� (http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/0401csr/csr_casestudy3india.pdf)3 which shows that Coca Cola’s practices may have polluted the water which has led to these health problems.
It is not only polluted water that has effected people’s health as Coca Cola gave many farmers sludge claiming that it would be good for their land. However all this sludge did was cause illness and infections as according to A Cockburn “aside from stinking so badly it made old folk and children sick, people coming in contact with it got rashes and kindred infections and the crops which it was supposed to nourish died.� (http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn04162005.html)4. Whereas as Coca Cola claimed this sludge was safe and would be a useful fertiliser lab tests on the sludge found it had high levels of cadmium which is particularly harmful to pregnant women.
The water appears to be of such a poor quality in certain parts of Kerala that people have been unable to use it for cooking as when rice is cooked it becomes hard and therefore difficult to eat. In the past families where able to save food by cooking rice in the morning and leaving some for the rest of the day. However this is no longer possible as using this water to cook the rice has made it inedible after a few hours. This has meant that families have to spend more money on food then they used to as they can no longer cook rice that will last all day and many families are unable to do afford this. This could have serious consequences for people’s health as they may suffer malnutrition if they cannot afford to buy more food.
People have also been unable to wash with the water as it has been reported that it results in health problems. According to A Cockburn “ to wash in it was to get skin rashes, a burning feel on the skin. It left their hair greasy and sticky�
(http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn04162005.html)5 which shows how the polluted water is having serious consequences for people’s health. Furthermore in a developing country such as India where diseases spread rapidly it is vital that communities have clean water to wash in so this can be avoided.
Coca Colas practices have also effected the livelihoods of many farmers in Kerala as they do not have enough water to irrigate their land properly. Farmers has always been able cope with the fact that the area had low rainfall but since Coca Cola began to take the already limited water supply “crops have failed and jobbing agricultural labourers have been forced further a field to look for employment�
(http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/0401csr/csr_casestudy3india.pdf)6.
The lack of water has therefore led to farmers being unable to sell their produce or use it to feed their own families. This could lead to farmers being put out of business as they will have no source of income. This is also a long term problem as it may take some time before crops begin to grow again during this time farmers will be forced to look for a source of income elsewhere
