VZCZCXRO8782
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0363/01 3650820
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 310820Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2580
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRALASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3951
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000363 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINV SENV ETRD PGOV IN
SUBJECT: TAINTED TEA AND DILUTED DIESEL: CONSUMER PROTECTION OFFERS 
SCOPE FOR COOPERATION 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The concept of consumer protection in India is often 
little more than "buyer beware," but there are private and public 
efforts afoot to create a more helpful climate for consumers.  The 
Government of India (GOI) is considering a new Consumer Protection 
Act, crafted similarly to U.S. laws for consumer safety, and the 
November visit of Consumer Product Safety Commission Nancy Nord 
helped raise awareness of the issue.  Current efforts to enforce 
consumer product safety in the state of Tamil Nadu have occasional 
successes, but a lack of resources hinders government officials from 
maintaining a strict enforcement regime.  As much as half the tea 
sold in the state may be purposefully tainted by dyes and ground 
nutshells, and diesel fuel is often adulterated with subsidized 
kerosene.  Significant potential may exist for USG agencies like the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to work with Indian 
counterparts -- particularly at the state level -- to improve 
consumer safety standards in India.  End Summary. 
 
CPSC visits Chennai 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) CPSC Commissioner Nancy Nord visited Chennai in November, 
mainly to meet with shoe manufacturers to explain changes to U.S. 
regulations affecting that industry.  She also met with some 
consumer protection groups, hearing about their concerns for product 
safety in India, particularly relating to food and adulterated 
diesel fuel.  Subsequent discussions Consulate General Chennai has 
had with local government officials suggest that the general subject 
of consumer protection might be an area where USG experience may be 
helpful to state-level officials in India. 
 
Tainted tea 
----------- 
 
¶3. (U) South Indians love their tea, generally brewed with lots of 
milk and generous amounts of sugar.  Much of this tea, however, may 
be tainted with dyes, other chemicals, and crushed nutshells.  A 
consumer advocate told Commissioner Nord that approximately half of 
the loose-leaf tea sold in Tamil Nadu is mixed with crushed cashew 
shells, which can cause adverse health problems for some people.  He 
also noted that foods products like spices and ground lentils are 
also often contaminated with foreign substances, emphasizing that it 
is often the poorest -- and therefore most price-sensitive -- 
consumers who often end up suffering the most from these adulterated 
products. 
 
¶4. (SBU) K. Rajaraman, who, as the Commissioner of Civil Supplies 
and Consumer Protection, serves as Tamil Nadu's top consumer 
protection official, concurred with the 50 percent estimate for 
adulterated tea in Tamil Nadu.  He told us that the problem is most 
acute among the tea sold to and used by "tea wallahs," the vendors 
who sell tea on the streets, often from the backs of bicycles or 
carts.  He said that consumers tend to believe dark-colored tea is 
stronger and of higher quality, so many tea purveyors adulterate tea 
with dyes and other chemicals to make the brewed tea darker.  He 
also said that even the tea wallahs selling tea on the grounds of 
the government building that houses his office were selling 
adulterated tea when he first took office, but they cleaned up their 
act after his inspectors tested their product. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Enforcing rules against tainted tea and other products is a 
challenge, but efforts continue.  The consumer advocate told 
Commissioner Nord that his organization has helped train 
approximately 1700 rural women to use food testing kits.  Rajaraman 
said that his office only has 3 or 4 inspectors per district (with 
populations of approximately 1-2 million), and that they do not have 
the resources to enforce the rules as rigorously as he would like. 
He showed us several boxes of tea seized by his inspectors and the 
police and told us that a major raid in November had seized 50 
metric tons (approximately 110,000 pounds) of adulterated tea from 
one site in central Tamil Nadu. 
 
Adulteration of fuels also a problem 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) The government subsidizes kerosene heavily for poor 
consumers, intending it to be used to power generators and other 
applications.  This subsidy encourages malefactors to use subsidized 
kerosene to adulterate (more expensive) diesel fuel, a practice that 
is apparently rampant.  The Consumer Association of India (CAI) 
reports on its website that 45 percent of the government subsidized 
kerosene meant to be used as a power source for rural villages 
without electricity is diverted and mixed with diesel fuel to 
increase profits.  In a random sample of diesel fuel at 21 filling 
stations in Tamil Nadu, a study conducted by a consumer protection 
organization and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, found 
 
CHENNAI 00000363  002 OF 002 
 
 
every sample to contain diesel adulterated with kerosene. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Rajaraman noted that this is a serious problem with 
important environmental consequences (diesel engines do not work as 
efficiently and produce dirtier emissions with kerosene-contaminated 
fuel).  He said that his department has also been working on this 
problem.  He told us that his inspectors conduct spot checks on 
tanker trucks and are authorized to seize them if they find kerosene 
in their tanks, noting that his department seized 50-60 tankers in 
October, which was "fairly normal."  He added that the adulteration 
tends to occur at the retail level at filling stations, and not 
earlier in the production/wholesale chain. 
 
¶8. (U) R. Desikan, CAI Trustee, told us that the United States-Asia 
Environmental Partnership (USAEP) and California Air Resources 
Board, in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Government and the Tamil 
Nadu Pollution Control Board, have established a fuel testing 
laboratory to test for adulterated fuel.  According to its website, 
USAEP considers the participation of non-state actors important for 
transparency and to ensure that results are distributed publicly. 
 
Small efforts to target a big problem 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) To create better and more aware consumers, the Government of 
Tamil Nadu provides some funds for "consumer clubs" in colleges and 
schools, according to Rajaraman, which meet monthly to discuss 
consumer-related issues.  The state government also supports annual 
festivals in each district that promote consumer awareness, and 
conducts some training in rural areas and villages.  Rajaraman told 
us that his office conducts some 900 outreach programs to villages 
in the state. 
 
¶10. (U) Private groups are also active in Tamil Nadu, but generally 
operate on a small scale.  One activist who met with Commissioner 
Nord explained how his group sends volunteers to rural area to run 
consumer awareness programs.  He said that one of the main focus 
points for his group is teaching people how to use India's Right to 
Information Act to further consumer protection, by, for example, 
requesting copies of communications between ministries about 
possibly dangerous products or obtaining government notifications 
that were not widely disseminated. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Although generally seen as one of India's more capably run 
states, Tamil Nadu still faces a host of difficult challenges 
typical of a developing country, and the subject of consumer does 
not appear to be among the state government's most pressing 
concerns.  That said, it might offer opportunities for public or 
private consumer groups from the United States to engage with 
Indians working on the subject.  It may also offer an excellent 
opportunity for us to engage with state-level officials, many of 
whom would be receptive to exchange programs or visits from U.S. 
state or federal government authorities to discuss the subject.  End 
Comment. 
 
¶12. (U) Commissioner Nord did not have the opportunity to clear this 
report. 
 
DALTON