RE: [OPE] Venezuela bans sale of Coke Zero

Alejandro: Your concern for the property rights of a multinational
corporation, Coca-Cola, is touching.
 
There is an interesting story here, though. Coke Zero, when sold
outside of the US, often contains the artificial sweetener, sodium
cyclamate. This ingredient was banned by the Food and Drug
Administration in 1969, but when Coke introduced Coke Zero for
sale in Latin America it included sodium cyclamate - a known
carcinogen. The reason - yes, you guessed it - is that sodium
cyclamate is considerably cheaper than other artificial sweeteners
such as aspartame. This was a controversy in both Mexico and Chile -
which were two of the primary target markets for Coke Zero in Latin
America - when health authorities in those countries discovered
that the ingredients were different in the Coke Zero sold in their
countries than the ingredients sold in the US market. Following the
scandal that ensued, Coca Cola agreed to change the formula so that
it was identical to the US version. There seems to be some question
whether all or part of the Coke Zero sold in Venezuela contained the
carcinogen. In any event, the real story here is that of a multinational
corporation, intent on cost-cutting, which purposely marketed a
commodity to consumers in Latin America which contained an ingredient
banned by many countries in the world. This is not a new story, of course.
There are many other similar stories over the years: e.g. after
a certain type of IUDs (a birth control device) was banned in the
US because it was found to mutilate women, the producer simply exported
their product and sold them to women in India and elsewhere.
 
All of the above information can readily be verified by a simple Internet
search. No, the source is not 'venezuelanalysis'.
 
In solidarity, Jerry
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Received on Thu Jun 11 21:09:35 2009