The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based advocacy group, along with other global health organisations has written to soft drink majors Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to put curbs on marketing and advertising of sugar-sweetened drinks to children below the age of 16 years.
CSE said a statement on Friday that they have written to Coca-Cola chief executive officer (CEO) Muhtar Kent and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi along with other major institutional investors of these companies to take up the issue during the respective annual meetings of these companies, which are scheduled to be held soon.
The advocacy group said sugar-added drinks have led to a new trend of diabetes2 and obesity among children and the problem could be more severe in India.
In India, which is also known as the diabetes capital of the world, nearly 70,000 children suffered from type 1 diabetes in 2014 and another 40,000 children were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a figure growing by five percent each year, the Times of India reported.
CSE said it is the low-income countries in the world, which will face huge burden of healthcare costs related to increasing cases of type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other soda-related health problems.
Coca- Cola and PepsiCo have also been urged to include health warning notices on soda containers as well as stop opposition to the public health measures including taxes, warning labels or marketing restrictions aimed to reduce soda consumption.
Source: www.ibtimes.co.in