The drink companies, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, were found to have funded around 96 health groups in the US to distort facts to the public about their products, to ensure they weren’t associated with any link to obesity. When this was revealed, Coca-Cola gave a statement of pure denial.
Since making the statement, they have been doing all they can to continue deceiving the public with advertising their products. This isn’t to instill fear in you, but to make you aware of what’s in these soft drinks. Coca-Cola and Pepsi, amongst many others are toxic to our body. In Nigeria, a court determined that two products made form Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta, are not safe for consumption.
Nigeria is the most populous country within Africa, consisting of 173 million people. It guarantees the country to be a hot zone for multinational corporations, as it has so much corruption in its government, that many aren’t even aware of it. A lot of these corporations fail to comply with due process in the country.
In the country they have all services and products distributed to the public without any regulations or procedures by the regulators responsible for ensuring quality and standards. Border officials in Nigeria seized fake, plastic rice in December of 2016, that weighed nearly 2.5 tons that was to be distributed to the people around Christmas.
The officials say that the rice was illegally smuggled into the country by suspicious businessmen. This is what corruption does, it only contributes to the selling of harmful products to the public. Judge Justice Adedayo Oyebanji presided over the trial involving Coca-Cola. She found that Sprite and Fanta have high levels of sunset additives and benzoic acid, that are deadly to the public when consumed with vitamin C or ascorbic acid.
The court also deliberated that the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), which is a member of the Coca-Cola Hellenic group that bottles the soda products in the country, to provide a written warning on the bottles of Sprite and Fanta. They would be exactly labeled as if they were cigarettes.
The court further deliberated that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) pay 2 million Naira ($6,350) due to their failure to comply with health standards in the nation.
The public in Nigeria wouldn’t have been able to take a sigh of relief if the NBC and a businessman didn’t go awry. Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo, a businessman, had previously conducted business with NBC. He would purchase products made by NBC and distribute them around the nation. He found it best to sell internationally in 2007. Fijabi Adebo Holdings Limited, Dr. Ajebo’s company had made an attempt to trade Coca-Cola products (Sprite and Fanta) to sell as retail in the UK. In the UK, border authorities seized the shipment and disposed of the drinks. Regulators say that the soft drinks had extremely high amounts of benzoic acid and sunset yellow.
It should be known that regulators in the UK found that benzoic acid can create a carcinogen called benzene when mixed with vitamin C. The drink poses a health threat to the public as it causes cancer.
NBC didn’t even pay Dr. Adebo for his loss financially. He immediately felt compelled to fight back and receive compensation. When the facts were heard, the court found that the products are toxic in the UK and should be in Nigeria.“Soft drinks manufactured by Nigeria Bottling Company ought to be fit for human consumption irrespective of color or creed,” the judge said.
Mr. Adebo was unhappy with the ruling and vowed to take measure to pursue damages that wasn’t enough from the courts award.
After the ruling, citizens of Nigeria flocked to social media to really their own disapproval of Coca-Cola products. A lot were upset with NAFDAC for not properly handling the safety of consumers. The agency had been accused of emphasizing more attention to profit than the health of Nigerians.
Many even accused NAFDAC of being liable for the deaths and health issues it gave to consumers due to its enabling of corporations selling toxic products. A swift majority of citizens supported a boycott of all products from Coca-Cola to provide a disappointment to shady corporations that take extreme advantage of the government corruption. The ruling restricts the Coca-Cola company’s image, and will mostly witness a huge loss from the scandal being trapped in the minds of Nigerian citizens.
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