In a recent article in the Health News blog, Lara Endreszl reported the findings of the Environmental Working Group’s work on bottled water.
She discussed that the most surprising result of the study was that out of the 188 different brands of bottled water investigated, only 2 disclosed these three basic facts about the water contained in them:
- The exact source of the water.
- How the water is purified.
- Which chemical pollutants may be in every bottle.
The question that this raises in my mind is why the other 188 brands chose not to report this basic information, particularly about the exact source of the water.
There are no doubt a multitude of reasons why this disclosure is not provided on an on-g0ing basis but the skeptic in me thinks that it could be to do with:
- The water is draw from a municipal supply therefore has largely been paid for by the people who repurchase it in bottled format – it is estimated filtered tap water accounts for more than one-quarter of bottled water consumed by Canadians; or
- It is drawn from unsustainable sources where the companies are coming into conflict with the local communities on the right to take the water in the first place – this is certainly becoming an issue in places like India.
In the perfect world this form of disclosure in labeling wouldn’t need to be mandatory but would be done as part of ethical business practices. It is a shame we don’t live in the perfect world.
For the record New Zealand’s Aquazeal bulk water, which is packaged and available for delivery to any bottling plant in the world, would allow such disclosures to be made as there is a guaranteed 100% traceability of all product shipped. Might be useful in complying with the new Canadian regulations and the proposed new US regulations.
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