By Swathi Ramakrishnan and Vijay Loganathan

With the arrival of summer, most of us in America think about drinking a refreshing bottle of Coca-Cola. It is a similar scenario in major cities of India. Unfortunately, that drink comes at a high social cost, not just in India, but around the globe, from Colombia to Palestine.

Due to scarce rainfall in the past few years in India, it has been very difficult for the farmers in drought regions to cultivate any crop. The situation is no better in Kala Dera, in the desert region of Rajasthan that has been in a drought for the past 8 years. It is home to a large Coca-Cola plant, set up in 2000, which reduced the ground water by 32 feet in its first five years. This pattern is seen in many drought-prone areas of India.

Water depletion is not the only problem that these plants cause. They have dumped their toxic waste into the surrounding areas or sold the waste to local farmers as fertilizers. In 2004, the leading newspaper, Times of India, confirmed the presence of pesticides in 12 products of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The pesticides in these products are at levels that would never be tolerated in the US or Europe. This has not yet stopped the sale of Coke products. Instead there are plans for additional plants in the region of Ballia, where the groundwater is already heavily contaminated with arsenic thanks to Coke.

In his book, Belching out the Devil, Mark Thomas actually takes a look at other issues related to Coke not only in India, but also in places like Colombia, El Salvador and Turkey. Trade unions have launched boycotts in many countries because of Coke’s use of illegal paramilitary units to oppress workers in Colombia. Coke’s support of Israel’s occupation and siege of Gaza is equally disturbing.

Thus, Coca-Cola joins a long list of multinational corporations whose human rights abuses go un-prosecuted as profits soar. Hopefully, with the revelation of still more facts, the next time we Americans stop for a can of Coke, we realize it comes at a cost.