Environmental Group Faults Lack of Transparency in Bottled Water Labeling
The bottled water industry is all wet when it comes to providing information to customers about the source and purity of its products, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group says in a new survey of 173 bottled water brands.
The Environmental Working Group previously surveyed bottled water labels in 2009, finding that only two of 188 brands described the source, treatment and purity of their water. Even though the government has pressured the industry to be more transparent, things haven’t improved much since then, according to the EWG. This time around, only three of the 173 brands provided the three basic facts: Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water and Penta Ultra Purified Water
The survey identified six brands, including Whole Foods’ Italian Still Mineral Water, as the worst offenders, saying they provide consumers “with none of the three basic facts about their water, either on labels or on company websites.” Among the 10 best-selling brands, nine — Pepsi’s Aquafina, Coca-Cola’s Dasani, Crystal Geyser and six of seven Nestlé brands — fail to list at least one of the basic facts.
According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the average American consumed 20.1 gallons of bottled water in 2002. By 2007 that figure had risen to 29.3 gallons, up nearly 46 percent. “Many brands fill their labels with vague claims of a pristine source or perfect purity — but no real facts,” EWG, which favors filtered tap water, says. “If people are willing to pay up 1,900 times the cost of tap water in order to buy water in a plastic bottle, they deserve better than that.”
http://www.fairwarning.org/2011/01/report-faults-lack-of-transparency-in-bottled-water-labeling/
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