Fizzically unfit

Undermining the legislative significance of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), the Pesticide Residues Sub-Committee of the Union ministry of health and family welfare has adopted a dilatory stand. It has proposed the setting up of another committee for year-long monitoring before standards are fixed for pesticide residues in soft drinks. This, when the JPC had directed the Union government in no uncertain terms to set stringent norms for carbonated beverages (see: