SUSSEX, England, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Britain's University of Sussex has banned all Coca-Cola products from its student union to protest the company's alleged business practices.
Other British campuses are expected to follow suit amid calls for a nationwide student boycott against the soft drink giant, the Independent reported Saturday.
U.K. Students Against Coca-Cola has been pressuring the purchasing consortium that provides food and drink to British campuses to cancel its four multimillion-dollar contracts with Coke, the newspaper said.
Sussex students cited health concerns such high pesticide levels that prompted several Indian states to outlaw the product. The protesters also claim Coca-Cola bottling plants in India have depleted local water tables and deprived farmers of their livelihoods. In Colombia and other South American countries, it is accused of ignoring anti-union abuses at its factories.
Coca-Cola had no immediate comment on the Sussex ban.
