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Coalition demands Coca-Cola require its suppliers end the use of any antimony and cobalt compounds as processing aids or additives in its PET plastic bottles by the end of this year.

More than 50 organizations including environmental justice leaders, children’s health advocates, plastic pollution activists, learning disabilities organizations and professionals, and environmental health experts from the U.S. and beyond joined a public sign-on letter to The Coca-Cola Company to take public action to rid their plastic bottles and beverage products of toxic chemicals.

“We’re calling on Coca-Cola to act now to put their consumers first by requiring their suppliers swiftly eliminate the use of cancer-causing chemicals in the PET plastic bottles used to package any of its beverage brands,” said Maya Rommwatt, senior market campaigner at Defend Our Health. “We’ve seen Coca-Cola in the news recently for making their bottles “more recyclable” and for sponsoring the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), but the reality is that the company is still one of oil and gas’ largest customers of petrochemical plastics and if they want to lead on climate and plastic pollution, then they must rapidly detoxify and reduce their plastics.”

This summer, Defend Our Health released a report detailing laboratory testing of popular beverages, including Coca-Cola’s. The testing found unsafe levels of the carcinogen antimony that is often used to make the plastic bottles for popular beverages. Of the brand owners tested, the organization found antimony in every beverage sampled, with 40% of samples containing levels above the California Public Health Goal for antimony in drinking water. The testing also found cobalt compounds which are used as PET plastic additives, and are probable human carcinogens. Elevated exposure to cobalt can also be toxic to the nervous system, thyroid, and heart.

As detailed in the letter to the Coca-Cola Chief Executive Officer James Quincy, chronic antimony exposure increases the lifetime risk of cancer and liver disease, and risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. Children are especially vulnerable because they are exposed to antimony at more than twice the level of adults, on average. Moreover, the continued use of antimony contributes to environmental racism, since federal government data show that Latinx and Black communities in the US are disproportionately exposed to antimony. 

“Toxic chemicals have no place in drink products,” said Lisette van Vliet, Senior Policy Manager at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. “Research shows that there are cancer risks associated with cumulative exposure to toxics like antimony and cobalt. We know that Black and Latinx communities are disproportionately exposed to antimony, putting them at the greatest risk of cancer. Consumers are demanding safer products that are better for our health and for our environment. It’s time for Coca-Cola to stop using cancer-causing chemicals in their plastic bottles.”

“Government food regulations and policy are benefitting from manufacturers like Coca-Cola and thus are not holding them accountable, putting profit ahead of consumer health,” said Jaydee Hanson, policy director at Center for Food Safety. “The lack of understanding generally around the cumulative effects of these chemicals is troublesome, but Coca-Cola has been informed and there is no excuse for their lack of action.”

The letter specifically requests that The Coca-Cola Company require its PET plastic bottle suppliers end the use of any antimony or cobalt compounds as processing aids or additives by January 1, 2023 since safer alternatives to antimony and cobalt are widely available.

The signatories to the letter represent over 50 organizations including Learning Disabilities Association of America, Beyond Plastics, Ecology Center Berkeley, Environmental Defence Canada, Greenpeace USA, and Women’s Voices for the Earth. 

List of Signatories

Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance

Association for Farmers Rights Defense, AFRD

Azul

Beyond Plastics

Beyond Plastics Greater Boston

Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP)

Center for Environmental Health

Center for Food Safety

Centre De Rechere Et Pour Le Developpement (CREPD)

Centre for Financial Accountability

CESTA Friends of the Earth El Salvador

Earth Ethics, Inc. 

Ecology Center

Ecology Center Berkeley 

Ecosoum NGO

Environment and Social Development Organization 

Environmental Defence Canada

Environmental Defence Canada

Fenceline Watch

FoCo Trash Mob

FreshWater Accountability Project 

Front Commun Pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Espaces Protèges

Gallifrey Foundation

Georgia Interfaith Power and Light

Greenpeace USA

Health Environment and Climate Action Foundation (HECAF360)

Humusz Szövetség

Lahore Conservation Society

Let’s Do it! Togo

Missouri River Bird Observatory

Oregon Environmental Council

Plastic Free Restaurants

Poovulagin Nanbargal

Port Arthur Community Action Network (PACAN)

Root Local

Save Our Rivers, Inc.

Save the Med Foundation 

Sheffield Saves

Sustainable Environment Development Initiative 

Sustainable Roanoke

UNISC International

UNISC International

Upper Etowah River Alliance 

Women’s Voices for the Earth

Zero Waste Ithaca

Able Differently  

California Safe Schools

Learning Disabilities Association of America

Learning Disabilities Association of Alabama

Learning Disabilities Association of Arkansas

Learning Disabilities Association of California 

Learning Disabilities Association of Connecticut

Learning Disabilities Association of Delaware

Learning Disabilities Association of Georgia

Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois 

Learning Disabilities Association of Indiana  

Learning Disabilities Association of Maine

Learning Disabilities Association of Maryland 

Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan

Learning Disabilities Association of Minnesota 

Learning Disabilities Association of New Jersey

Learning Disabilities Association of New York

Learning Disabilities Association of Ohio

Learning Disabilities Association of Oklahoma

Learning Disabilities Association of Pennsylvania

Learning Disabilities Association of South Carolina

Learning Disabilities Association of Tennessee

Learning Disabilities Association of Texas

Learning Disabilities Association of Utah

Learning Disabilities Association of Virginia

Learning Disabilities Association of Wisconsin