Pastors file suit against Coca-Cola over health risks

WASHINGTON - Two prominent African-American pastors have filed suit against Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association, claiming soda manufacturers knowingly deceived customers about the health risks of sugarsweetened beverages. They say soda marketing has made it more difficult to protect the health of their largely black, D.C.-based parishioners. The Washington Post reports the complaint was filed Thursday in D.C. Superior Court on behalf of Praxis Project, a public health group, and the pastors. They are: William Lamar, the senior pastor at D.C.’s historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church; and Delman Coates, the pastor at Maryland’s Mount Ennon Baptist Church.

The lawsuit alleges that CocaCola and the ABA ran an intentional campaign to confuse consumers about the causes of obesity. Coca-Cola in a statement dismissed the pastors’ charges.