Coca-Cola investigated in boy’s mercury poisoning

Coca-Cola is waiting for the police to release their findings. It said its products are mercury-free. CFP Photo

By Chu Meng

Wang Yong (pseudonym), a 13-year-old high school student, was diagnosed with mercury poisoning two hours after drinking a can of Sprite on January 17 in Tongzhou, Beijing.

The boy remains in No. 307 Hospital’s emergency unit and is still undergoing detox. He is the second person in three months to be poisoned shortly after drinking Sprite bottled by the Beijing Coca-Cola Cmpany.

Beijing Coca-Cola Company gave 20,000 yuan for the boy’s treatment calling it “humanitarian assistance.”

“The company is considering Wang’s medical expenses a humanitarian donation. It should not be taken as recnition of fault. We are waiting for the police to finish their investigation,” Chen Yi, the public affairs director of Beijing Coca-Cola Company, said Wednesday.

The day after the incident, Coca-Cola issued a statement that mercury is not used at any stage of the beverage’s production, and the current production process adheres to national standards.

Wang bought the can of sprite on January 17 at a supermarket beside his school after lunch. It was part of a batch produced in August 2009.

“When we got home, he took two big sips from the can and told me he felt like he was eating jelly. I poured the last third of the can into a glass and found it contais a soy-bean-size silver ball,” Wang’s father saidHe took his son to No. 307 Hospital and called the police.

The latest blood test found Wang’s blood to contain 3.6 percent nanograms per milliliter, still above the avrage 2.5 percent. He often has bouts of dizziness, and doctors say he may require another three months of hospitalization.

Tongzhou police sent samples of Sprite from the same batch to the Chaoyang District Products Quality Control Center on Tuesday: no mercury was found.

“The results found the Sprites mercury levels to be well within the limits of the national food and beverage standard,” Han Chunju, a lab technician at the center, said. 

The Police sent the can to China Packaging Research and Development Test Center, located in Tianjin Tuesday, to test whether it was sealed properly. Results of its tests are pending.

Police found a broken thermometer at Wang’s home on the same table where he drank the Sprite. He told police he broke a thermometer and swept away the glass fragments and mercury balls with his hands without telling his parents.

“But I washed my hand carefully immediately,” Wang said. Police kept the thermometer as evidence, but have not announced a cause of poisoning.Whether Coca-Cola will be required to pay compensation depends on their findings.

“The truth is ahundred times more important than the compensation. We want to know what poisoned my son so this does not happen again,” Wang’s father wrote on his blog, Tuesday.