News Coverage
More Scrutiny Urged for Bottled Water
Published July 7, 2009
Federal regulation hasn’t caught up with Americans’ taste for bottled water.
The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the $11.2 billion industry, doesn’t keep track of companies that produce bottled water and doesn’t require companies to report positive tests for contaminants, federal officials told a House hearing Wednesday. Consumer advocates testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight and investigations panel that bottlers should be required to disclose more information to consumers.
The industry, which includes PepsiCo Inc.’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co.’s Dasani, currently isn’t required to report tests that turned up contamination. By contrast, municipal water authorities must report dangerous contaminants within 24 hours.
The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, conducted a survey showing that all but a few bottled-water products don’t list where their bottled water comes from and how it was treated, and publish quality-test reports on their Web sites. “Instead, they simply make claims of purity and health benefits not backed by public data,” Jane Houlihan, the group’s senior vice president for research, told the panel.
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