Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Phil Jones who wrote (35421)	6/15/1999 10:24:00 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116762

OT. Just cant trust anyone anymore dam. WRAPUP-Coke's wrong fizz sparks health alert By Alistair Thomson BRUSSELS, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. soft drinks group Coca-Cola Co. said on Tuesday it was pulling millions of canned and bottled drinks from selected European markets after it used the wrong fizz in drinks and scores of Belgian youngsters fell ill. Coca-Cola said its Antwerp bottling plant had used poor carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbonate drinks, while at a plant in the French port of Dunkirk a fungicide used to treat shipping pallets had ended up in cans for Belgian consumers. "The CO2 we got was not perfect," Coca-Cola Enterprises Belgium Director General Philippe Lenfant told a packed and boisterous news conference in Brussels. The scope of the withdrawals spread on Tuesday night when the French government halted sales of Coca-Cola canned drinks and all Coca-Cola products from Belgium. "Commerce Minister Marylise Lebranchu has decided to suspend the sale in France of Coca-Cola products in metal cans, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, Fanta and Sprite," a ministry official told Reuters. "We're also withdrawing from the market all Coca-Cola products from Belgium," the official said, adding the ban would be in effect until tests had been conducted on the products for possible contamination. In Atlanta where it has its headquarter, Coca-Cola said that investigators had found no health concerns behind the odd tastes and smells that led to the recall of millions of cans and bottles of its soft drinks in markets in four European nations. "No health or safety issues were found," spokesman Rob Baskin said in a statement. The Belgian government, which resigned on Monday after losing an election largely because of its handling of another food health scare, earlier ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw its products when at least 115 children suffered vomiting, nausea and dizziness after drinking the company's products. The European Commission alerted all EU countries, but it said an impact was likely only in France and the Netherlands. Luxembourg banned Coca-Cola drinks, including Minute Maid, Fanta and Sprite, while Coca-Cola said it was pulling all its Belgian-made products from the Dutch market. France withdrew some Coca-Cola drinks bottled at Dunkirk before widening the ban on Tuesday evening. Professor Dominique Lison of the Leuven University Toxicology Centre told the Brussels news conference that for the CO2 and the fungicide the concentrations were much too low to endanger health and that there was no public health problem. "We will only put our products back on the market in complete cooperation with the (Belgian) Ministry of Health and with the certainty that the products are good," Lenfant said. He said Coca-Cola had no idea how much the recall in Belgium would cost, since it had been too busy to to do the calculations. A Coca-Cola source said the company had insurance cover for such incidents and had already told most people affected that it would pay all their medical bills. Any supplementary compensation would be up to the insurance companies. Lefant hoped production could be resumed once Coca-Cola had convinced the Belgian health ministry that it had resolved the health problems found mainly among schoolchildren. "At the moment they give us the go-ahead to resume production, we will do it," Lefant said. In New York, Coca-Cola shares closed $1.25 at $63.56. The health scare came as Belgium was still reeling from a dioxin crisis that led to a range of meats, eggs and selected dairy products being pulled from supermarket shelves. The scare over cancer-causing dioxin in animal feed, Europe's worst food scandal since the mad cow beef crisis, sparked worldwide bans of Belgian products. Belgium's Health Ministry said a toxicology centre had found cases of haemolysis -- a disorder that causes the destruction of red blood cells -- among Coca-Cola drinkers. Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche, telling consumers not to panic, criticised Coca-Cola's lack of cooperation. "It's a bit disturbing that a big firm with worldwide fame did not take far-reaching measures more spontaneously and more promptly," he said. Belgian retailers and consumers were upset. "It's total confusion in addition to the financial losses. A lot of enterprises and restaurants will have to shut for this month," restaurant manager Georges told Reuters Television. "It's scandalous," said a pregnant woman, who declined to be named, but said she had excruciating stomach cramps and contractions for four days after drinking Coca-Cola from a can that had rust-like patches and smelt bad. The costly recall is the most damaging blow to the drinks industry since Perrier had to dump over 100 million bottles of its water in 1990 after minute doses of possible cancer-causing benzene were found due to contamination from a dirty filter. Coca-Cola employs 2,000 people in Belgium, where it launched its trademark soda in 1927. The country, where a million cans of Coke drinks are drunk a day and Coca-Cola serves up to 30,000 restaurants and shops, is now one of its top-20 markets. reuters.com

To: Phil Jones who wrote (35421)	6/15/1999 10:38:00 PM
From: John Soileau	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

Exactly. If companies have a US presence and collude to restrain trade, they run afoul of our antitrust laws. Same goes for Canada and other countries with similar laws. OPEC, due to distance and sovereignty, can ignore antitrust law, but Barrick and Placer Dome can't.