75.
Pepsi, Coke Double Up As Pesticides
Even Pesky Pests Can’t Handle Them
What are Coke and Pepsi good for besides cleaning rust off the bumper of your car? If you’re a farmer in India,
they’re also good as pesticides.
Hundreds of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh areas have discovered that spraying their cotton and chilly crop with world famous beverages works out cheaper than many expensive pesticides.
Gotu Laxmaiah, a farmer from Ramakrishnapuram, says he was delighted with his new cola spray, which he applied this year to several hectares of cotton. “I observed that the pests began to die after the soft drink was sprayed on my cotton,” he said.
Laxmaiah and others say their cola sprays are invaluable because they are safe to handle, do not need to be diluted and, mainly, because they are so cheap. One litre of highly concentrated Avant, Tracer or Nuvocron -- three popular Indian pesticides -- costs around Rs 10,000 (£120). A litre-and-a-half of locally made Coca-Cola costs just Rs 30.
Its becoming a bit hard to swallow for the soft drink manufacturers. A spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta, USA, said: “We are aware of one isolated case where a farmer may have used a soft drink as part of his crop management routine. But soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops. There is no scientific basis for this and the use of soft drinks for this purpose would be totally ineffective.”
Anupam Verma, Pepsi sales manager in Chhattisgarh, admits that sales figures in rural areas of the state have increased by 20%.
According to Mike Adams, there’s something in the sodas that may deters pests. Phosphoric acid, for example, is highly acidic and may function as a pest deterrent. Or perhaps it’s the aspartame in the diet soda. Since aspartame is well known to promote neurological side effects in humans, it is conceivable that it may function as a neurotoxic pesticide when sprayed on crops.
In addition to be useful as pesticides when sprayed on crops, Coke and Pepsi are also very good at cleaning up blood stains from concrete due to their carbonation effect. They can clean toilet bowls, car bumpers and garage floors, too.
Oh, and if you really want to, you can also drink Coke and Pepsi, although that’s not advisable unless you really want a stomach full of high-fructose corn syrup and phosphoric acid.
they’re also good as pesticides.
Hundreds of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh areas have discovered that spraying their cotton and chilly crop with world famous beverages works out cheaper than many expensive pesticides.
Gotu Laxmaiah, a farmer from Ramakrishnapuram, says he was delighted with his new cola spray, which he applied this year to several hectares of cotton. “I observed that the pests began to die after the soft drink was sprayed on my cotton,” he said.
Laxmaiah and others say their cola sprays are invaluable because they are safe to handle, do not need to be diluted and, mainly, because they are so cheap. One litre of highly concentrated Avant, Tracer or Nuvocron -- three popular Indian pesticides -- costs around Rs 10,000 (£120). A litre-and-a-half of locally made Coca-Cola costs just Rs 30.
Its becoming a bit hard to swallow for the soft drink manufacturers. A spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta, USA, said: “We are aware of one isolated case where a farmer may have used a soft drink as part of his crop management routine. But soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops. There is no scientific basis for this and the use of soft drinks for this purpose would be totally ineffective.”
Anupam Verma, Pepsi sales manager in Chhattisgarh, admits that sales figures in rural areas of the state have increased by 20%.
According to Mike Adams, there’s something in the sodas that may deters pests. Phosphoric acid, for example, is highly acidic and may function as a pest deterrent. Or perhaps it’s the aspartame in the diet soda. Since aspartame is well known to promote neurological side effects in humans, it is conceivable that it may function as a neurotoxic pesticide when sprayed on crops.
In addition to be useful as pesticides when sprayed on crops, Coke and Pepsi are also very good at cleaning up blood stains from concrete due to their carbonation effect. They can clean toilet bowls, car bumpers and garage floors, too.
Oh, and if you really want to, you can also drink Coke and Pepsi, although that’s not advisable unless you really want a stomach full of high-fructose corn syrup and phosphoric acid.