Water safety questioned
Meanwhile, YouTube videos, research studies and press releases continue to fly about another controversy — the health and safety of tap vs. bottled water.
Each side argues over which water is more highly regulated. The Environmental Protection Agency oversees tap water whilethe Food & Drug Administration examines bottled water, so they’re handled differently.
“For the last 10 to 15 years, bottled water companies have been marketing that theirs was safer and healthier than tap water,” said Patti Lynn, campaign director at the environmental group Corporate Accountability International. She said the marketingundermined consumer confidence in tap water as well as necessary public investments needed to maintain public water systems, which face a $24 billion gap in funding.
So environmental groups have been making their case against bottled water on safety. Last year, the Environmental Working Group looked at 10 brands of bottled water and found that bottled water can contain complex mixtures of industrial chemicals never tested for safety, and may be no cleaner than tap water.
Bottled water companies defend their water and claim they are highly regulated by the FDA. Industry Web site BottledWaterMatters.com reports that bottled water is tested 30 times more often than tap water and that the Centers for Disease Control attributes more than 19 million illnesses to tap and none to bottled water.
Congress held hearings on safety regulation of bottled water over the summer, and the Government Accountability Office issued a report that revealed current FDA rules don’t require certified laboratories for water testing of bottled water norpublic disclosure of quality and contaminants found in bottled water as EPA rules do for tap water.
Meanwhile, YouTube videos, research studies and press releases continue to fly about another controversy — the health and safety of tap vs. bottled water.
Each side argues over which water is more highly regulated. The Environmental Protection Agency oversees tap water whilethe Food & Drug Administration examines bottled water, so they’re handled differently.
“For the last 10 to 15 years, bottled water companies have been marketing that theirs was safer and healthier than tap water,” said Patti Lynn, campaign director at the environmental group Corporate Accountability International. She said the marketingundermined consumer confidence in tap water as well as necessary public investments needed to maintain public water systems, which face a $24 billion gap in funding.
So environmental groups have been making their case against bottled water on safety. Last year, the Environmental Working Group looked at 10 brands of bottled water and found that bottled water can contain complex mixtures of industrial chemicals never tested for safety, and may be no cleaner than tap water.
Bottled water companies defend their water and claim they are highly regulated by the FDA. Industry Web site BottledWaterMatters.com reports that bottled water is tested 30 times more often than tap water and that the Centers for Disease Control attributes more than 19 million illnesses to tap and none to bottled water.
Congress held hearings on safety regulation of bottled water over the summer, and the Government Accountability Office issued a report that revealed current FDA rules don’t require certified laboratories for water testing of bottled water norpublic disclosure of quality and contaminants found in bottled water as EPA rules do for tap water.
