Pepsi imports contain lead in packaging

Pepsi may live to regret going for cheap imports!

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Pepsi agrees to pay $1 million in damages for lead paint labels
Bottles sold in the U.S. imported from Mexico

By PATRICK MCGREEVY
Los Angeles Times
April 22. 2006 8:00AM

Settling a lawsuit by the city of Los Angeles and the state of California, PepsiCo., Inc. has agreed to eliminate lead-tainted labels on bottled soft drinks imported from Mexico and will pay a $1 million civil penalty, officials announced yesterday.

California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo announced the settlement of the lawsuit that alleged the soft-drink maker violated Proposition 65, a voter-approved state law, by failing to warn consumers that the labels contained lead.

"This is a landmark result, which will protect the health of our children and make our communities safer," Delgadillo said. "Pepsi is here with us today doing the responsible thing."

Pepsi bottled in Mexico is not supposed to be sold in Southern California, but some businesses bring the bottles there because the soda from south of the border has a different taste that some people in Latino communities prefer, Lockyer said.

The painted labels on some bottles contain as much as 45 percent lead, Lockyer said.

He said the lead can be transferred to the hands while holding the bottles and then can be ingested if a person touches a contaminated hand to the mouth.

Additionally, lead could contaminate the inside of bottles during washing for recycling.

Continued - http://snipurl.com/posd

 

It happens in Australia also, many firms have moved their manufacturing to Indonesia from Australia and New Zealand, where quality controls and laws are quite different.