New Delhi, Sep 17: The Joint Parliamentary Committee set up to probe allegations of pesticides in soft drinks today sought views of organisations, experts and others while giving an assurance that any views submitted for its perusal would be kept confidential. The JPC has been set up to examine whether the recent findings of CSE regarding pesticide residues in soft drinks were correct and to suggest criteria for evolving suitable safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages where water is the main constituent.

At its first meeting yesterday, the 15-member JPC decided to request the Lok Sabha speaker to appoint a small committee of experts in an advisory capacity to be associated with it on a full-time basis as the subject was "too technical". It wanted Dr G Thiagrajan, N K Agnihotri and S K Khanna who are experts in the field of pesticide monitoring, agriculture and chemicals and toxicology respectively to be associated with the committee.

Bureau Report