Venezuela: Why We Banned Coke Zero

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's Health Ministry said Friday it banned sales of Coca-Cola Zero because the company failed to declare that the no-calorie soft drink uses an artificial sweetener allegedly harmful to health.

Health officials said tests show the cola contains sodium cyclamate. Coca-Cola Co. disputes that, saying the product sold in Venezuela uses different artificial sweeteners, Acesulfame-K and Aspartame.

Cyclamate is not prohibited in Venezuela. But the ministry said the company failed to report sodium cyclamate as an ingredient in Coca-Cola Zero when it received its initial health permit to begin selling the drink in April.

Coca-Cola is "failing to comply with sanitary norms," the ministry said in a statement published in the newspaper Ultimas Noticias. The ministry urged Venezuelans to refrain from trying the drink, saying it is "considered harmful to the health."

The U.S. prohibits the use of cyclamates in human food because of health safety concerns. Sales of Coca-Cola Zero elsewhere in Latin America have met with resistance over the use of cyclamate.

Rosy Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Servicios de Venezuela, told The Associated Press on Thursday that "no ingredient of Coca-Cola Zero is harmful to peoples' health." But the company is complying with Venezuela's ban and has begun halting production, she said.

Kerry Kerr, a spokeswoman at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, said Thursday that the company was in discussions with the Venezuelan government.

Coca-Cola sells many other soft drinks in Venezuela, including Coca-Cola Classic, Chinoto, Frescolita and Hit.

Comments

[jeffcflynn]

Trust me, Venezuela is hardly the nation of "sanitary norms", what another shakedown Hugo?

[luckybear]

Maybe they should work on their murder rate, now the highest in the hemisphere, instead of worrying about something that isn't even in Coke Zero.

[amdezurik]

well seeing that Columbia has that honor otherwise you might have made a true statement in that post. and obviously that is something you are allergic to.

[BikeFreak]

I assumed it was because it tastes like garbage.

[ddanimal]

Aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame etc are all poisons.

[skippypicasso]

So is sugar.

[flamflurm]

and water

[frug]

Sugar is not a poison. The brain is fueled by one nutritional substance only: sugar.

[lazercat2008]

What is wrong with sugar? It's that High Fructose corn syurp that will kill you.

[Deaninphilly]

Artificial sweetners are no better for you than HFCS. It needs to be just sugar.

[DMSmith]

For you, maybe, but there are many - over 10% of the population - that cannot eat/drink sugar. There does need to be an alternative.

[Harmony1812]

Unrefined sugar.

[NKR]

Its not sugar. Its artificial sweeteners and some of them are far worse than high fructose corn syrup. There is some evidence that cyclamate shrinks testicles.

[itolduso]

Congress must drink lots of it

[LemonMeringue]

Most of the corn is now genetically engineered Roundup Ready stuff that causes Hodgkins' Lymphoma because it has so much Roundup in it.

[Harmony1812]

Yummy pesticides!

[Ergon]

Coca Cola cleans my toilet bowl a treat

[MSMSucksCom]

Footnote: I liked Coke Zero, but I am not buying it any longer.

Thank you Venezuela for reminding me why I should not be drinking that c r ap.

[MSMSucksCom]

Why is Venezuela doing this and we are not? I really want to know.

[karinova]

Because the US version of this product is sweetened with aspartame (eg: NutraSweet)-- not cyclamate (eg: SugarTwin). The ingredients are different in practically every market (see here for the ingredients listed by country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Zero).

As the article states, "the U.S. prohibits the use of cyclamates in human food because of health safety concerns." (Which is why we don't have SugarTwin.)

[Billy Hell]

Aspartame was not approved until 1981, in dry foods. For over eight years the FDA refused to approve it because of the seizures and brain tumors this drug produced in lab animals. The FDA continued to refuse to approve it until President Reagan took office (a friend of Searle) and fired the FDA Commissioner who wouldn't approve it. Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed as commissioner. Even then there was so much opposition to approval that a Board of Inquiry was set up. The Board said: "Do not approve aspartame". Dr. Hayes OVERRULED his own Board of Inquiry.

Long-Term Damage. It appears to cause slow, silent damage in those unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions and a reason to avoid it. It may take one year, five years, 10 years, or 40 years, but it seems to cause some reversible and some irreversible changes in health over long-term use.

http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html

[NKR]

Aspartame should be banned. It is dangerous.

[proudblackman]

Why would you want regulation on this? That would justify why casual m.arajuana is illegal. Let people make their own decisions and stay out of my life. Thanks!

[drjasonmd]

Unless you're in Venezuela, I'd say they are out of your life.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Simply astounding how you equate SugarTwin with pot. Amazing. Amazing....

Amazing.

[flydoghead]

because you make bad decisions which I end up paying in the form of higher health
insurance rates....that is why tobacco etc need to be taxed, to pay for the hidden costs
to ME !!

[MrWampler]

You can't grow apartame in your garden.

[Harmony1812]

If corporations got involved with pot they would mess around with it and make it dangerous.

[karinova]

Because the US version of this product is sweetened with aspartame (eg: NutraSweet)-- not cyclamate (eg: SugarTwin). In fact, the ingredients are different in practically every market (see here for ingredients lists by country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Zero).

As the article states, "the U.S. prohibits the use of cyclamates in human food because of health safety concerns." Which is why we don't have SugarTwin here. (I only know about its existence because I grew up in NY, where I occasionally saw Canadian ads for it.)

[MadHeart]

Aspartame is also loaded into some yogurts as a sweetener. Read labels--always.

[hopefull2008]

Facilitating Russian navy war games off their coast was one thing .. but banning Coke Zero .. thats is tantamount to a declaration of war.

[whatsthisthen]

Those Venezuelans aren't banning gasoline because it causes terrible pollution from their non-emissi­ons-contro­lled vehicles. In fact, gas is subsidized. Smog in Caracas is horrible. Maybe that's where they should be looking to improve the health of their people.

Coke just didn't give enough of a bribe or kickbacks to the right Venezuelan officials.

[petef59]

Or maybe Coke officials can't seem to stop bullying worker representatives, a few who have been mysteriously murdered in the loast 10 or so years.

[karinova]

I'm not sure we're in a position to bash this.

Consider all the things that are allowed in the States, but are banned pretty much everywhere else: GMO foods, phthalates, bovine growth hormone, et cetera, et cetera. In my opinion, our FDA is a bit of a joke. So I don't feel like laughing at Venezuela.

[EnuffsEnuffAlready]

"No ingredient of Coca-Cola Zero is harmful to peoples' health"???

So the Coke people think aspartame isn't harmful? Just do a Google search to see what a crock that is!

[hidenout]

Agreed...nasty stuff. It weakens your immune system.

[NKR]

Terrible for your brain. I'll never touch a diet drink ever.

[MrMike513]

And we all know that if it comes up on a google search, it has to be true!

[Harmony1812]

That sounds like the cigarette people years ago. We can thank Rumsfield for approving Aspertame.

[urnumbersix]

Shame, SHAME! Passing on chemicals banned in the USA on to other countries! I was a kid in the late-60s/early 70's when Everything had cyclamates. I loved Quisp & Quick cereals, Kool Aid, Hostess cakes, etc. - After that, I swore - when I was still a kid- to drink Nothing cooked up in a laboratory - and never have.

However, I was able to get Coca-Cola made with real cane sugar --- not High Fructose Corn Syrup -- overseas. SO Delicious!!!!!!!! And much more healthy!

Someone should tell Coke that Americans would gladly pay (even) more for real sugar. Make it an option.

[karinova]

Mmm cane sugar.
Why do we put up with corn syrup in the US?

We're not Jewish, but my mom waits anxiously for Passover every year because that's the one time you can get Pepsi made with REAL sugar. While everyone else we know is looking for Peeps at that time of year, she's scouring every deli for yellow-capped Pepsi bottles so she can have her Pepsi-and-milk (I know: eww). She worked for the UN, and lived in Israel for a few years during the 90s. Needless to say, she was in real-sugar-Pepsi heaven.

[luckybear]

Talk to the farm lobby about that. Farmers are given money for corn therefore making it really cheap hence high fructose corn syrup. Then talk to the sugar lobby in Florida; they stop cane sugar imports from Brazil and Dominican Republic. Then talk to the Cuba embargo lobby about the embargo on cheap Cuban sugar.

Course the same progressives complaining about health will continue to "help" (bribe) the farmers and are the same people afraid of imports. It's not a conspiracy by Coke; it's just economics. Sugar is hit with tariffs and quotas and corn is subsidized. Thats why we have high fructose corn syrup in everything because give welfare to farmers and we have protectionism on sugar imports (and no we can't be self sufficiant in sugar cane). We should just import sugar from Brazil or better yet, Cuba.

This will never change because of farmers.

[samuelberg]

Some 99cent stores here on the west coast carry Coke that's manufactured in Mexico containing cane sugar. Tastes better, IMO.

[MadHeart]

When I lived in San Diego back in the early 60s, lots of people used to go across the border for soft drinks. I thought they were way too sweet, though.

[fiorastar]

ALL Coke is "harmful to the health"...not only to the human body, but to the environment and society in nations where the company is buying up all the water rights.

[Catfish1968]

agreed, 100%

[samuelberg]

I only drink water born from the freshly snow packed Colorado Rockies.

[fiorastar]

If you live in the Colorado Rockies, or along a river that comes from that snow pack, then wonderful!

I drink river out of my tap that is from snow melt that fills the Oregon Cascades' McKenzie River after filtering through lava tubes, and runs fast and clear to my city.

But if it is in a plastic bottle, it has been poisoned by the plastic itself, and the plastic will poison the planet.

[James Redmond]

Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
and Costa Rica are purportedly the "only"(?) countries currently having their people face health risks by Sodium Cyclamate by Coca Cola in Zero. Given that amongst the South American countries distributed Zero to, those that apply above are the only South American countries listed, you can see Venezuela's point. Why is that sh*t in the drink at all, and how exactly is it that all of their neighbors have Sodium Cyclamate in it and somehow they do not?