In 2002, Dr. Francine Ratner Kaufman wrote of a disturbing trend involving our children, who happen to be frequent targets of Coke's advertising:
"As the new president of the American Diabetes Association and as a pediatric endocrinologist, I have had the opportunity to appreciate the recent change in the face of type 2 diabetes in the United States. Type 2 diabetes has changed from a disease of our grandparents and parents to a disease of our children....In 1992, it was rare for most pediatric centers to have patients with type 2 diabetes. By 1994, type 2 diabetes accounted for up to 16% of new cases of pediatric diabetes in urban areas, and by 1999, it accounted for 8-45% of new cases depending on geographic location."
"Relax with Coke"...But don't try to work for them
The New York City Council sent a group to Colombia to investigate Coca Cola's potential responsibility for the murders and assaults. Documenting 179 human rights abuses and determining that Coke's bottlers were closely aligned with the paramilitaries who committed the crimes, the investigators issued this statement:
"The company denies any involvement in the threats, assassinations, kidnappings and other terror tactics, but its failure to protect its workers even on company property, its refusal to investigate persistent allegations of payoffs to paramilitary leaders by plant managers, and its unwillingness to share documentation that might demonstrate otherwise leads the delegation to the conclusion that Coca-Cola is complicit in the human rights abuses of its workers in Colombia."
In May of 2005, a Coca Cola facility in Turkey fired five union organizers. A day later, Coke fired 50 union employees. When the fired employees refused to leave immediately, Coke had Turkish riot police known as Cevik Kuvvet drive them off by beating them.
Coke was not finished. They waited five days and then fired 50 more union members.
In July, the fired union members and their families gathered at the Coca Cola facility to peacefully protest their termination. 1,000 Cevik Kuvvet sprayed them with tear gas and beat them with batons. Coca Cola's violent suppression of union activity sent 90 people to the hospital that day
According to a detailed report by Human Rights Watch, child labor is rampant in El Salvador. Children as young as eight are subjected to back-breaking and dangerous labor harvesting sugar-cane for subsistence wages. Companies purchasing and using the sugar enable and perpetuate this morally reprehensible practice.
Human Rights Watch asserted:
"One such business is The Coca-Cola Company, which uses sugar from El Salvador's largest mill, Central Izalco, located in the Department of Sonsonate. Coca-Cola uses Salvadoran sugar in its bottled beverages for domestic consumption in El Salvador and in its canned beverages sold throughout Central America. At least four of the plantations that supply sugarcane to Central Izalco regularly use child labor, Human Rights Watch found after interviewing children and adults who work on those plantations. When Human Rights Watch brought this information to Coca-Cola's attention, Coca-Cola asked its supplier mill to conduct its own investigation into the use of child labor on plantations that supply the mill. Coca-Cola's extensive response to the information provided by Human Rights Watch did not contradict our findings."
In 1946, one of Coke's advertising slogans was:
Whenever you hear "Have a Coke," you hear the voice of America
I wonder how often eight year old El Salvadoran children hear the voice of America and think that "Coke adds life"...
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