Bottled Water Industry on the Defensive with Bogus Attack Campaign
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A group promoting the website EnjoyBottleWater.org is trying to handle the pressure put by consumer groups on bottled water companies by resorting to fear tactics. Their ploys are predictable and as easy to see through as their product.
A video by the group claims that politicians are trying to take away people's rights to bottled water and shows headlines from newspapers where U.S. mayors have ended bottled water contracts for city buildings. The video juxtaposes these shots with folks in developing countries drinking dirty water, claiming that these actions are taking away water "from those in need."
Their campaign is nothing short of a sham. The city officials in San Francisco where bottled water contracts were ended are hardly people in need of clean water. San Francisco's tap, which comes from Yosemite, is some of the best in the country. And their action saves taxpayers thousands of dollars each year by switching from bottled to tap.
One of the reasons this bottled water front group is trying to defend themselves is because last week Environmental Working Group issued a damning report on bottled water companies.
Here's what they had to say:
The bottled water industry promotes an image of purity, but comprehensive testing by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reveals a surprising array of chemical contaminants in every bottled water brand analyzed, including toxic byproducts of chlorination in Walmart's Sam's Choice and Giant Supermarket's Acadia brands, at levels no different than routinely found in tap water. Several Sam's Choice samples purchased in California exceeded legal limits for bottled water contaminants in that state. Cancer-causing contaminants in bottled water purchased in 5 states (North Carolina, California, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland) and the District of Columbia substantially exceeded the voluntary standards established by the bottled water industry.While the bottled water companies have attempted to dismiss this report, there is one very easy way for bottling companies to prove their worth: disclosure.
See more stories tagged with: water, bottled water, water privatization
Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.
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