India's Storm in a Cola Cup

The release of a new study finding high levels of pesticide in locally bottled sodas had India in an uproar last week, and the outrage fell squarely on Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which boast about 80% of the country's market for soft drinks. The southern state of Kerala has issued an order banning Coke and Pepsi products, while five other states barred soft drinks from public hospitals, government offices and the areas around schools. Nationalist groups burned soda bottles and fed the drinks to donkeys in protest.

But Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE),...