In response to Nestle’s criticism of our bottled water article of last week, Jackie Campbell has offered some further comments. As you may know, Jackie is a health professional (pharmacist) as well as environmental lawyer. Mr. Challoner’s email appears in the “Comments” to “What’s in Bottled Water?”
Mr. Challoner wrote: “Many people buy…”. Jackie responds: Athough there are some labelling requirements for bottled water, they cover far fewer parameters than the disclosure rules for tap water.“Most provinces….” - Bottled water is not governed by provincial tap water rules such as the Safe Drinking Water Act (see http://www.ecolawinfo.org/WaterFAQ-BottledWater.aspx for example, or just read the Act.)
Re “BPA” – he is correct, current Canadian bottlers don’t use BPA bottles.
Re “CFIA inspection” – It remains surprising that there have been so few enforcement actions for water offences by the CFIA, compared to provincial enforcement of tap water quality rules.
Re “no lead” permitted in bottled water – we disagree. The 2002 document still reflects the law – see “Making it Clear – Renewing the Federal Regulations on Bottled Water: A Discussion Paper.” August 2002. .2008 federal documents merely reiterate the same thing. Division 15 of the FDA Reg re adulteration of food, lists tolerance limits for lead and arsenic (not zero limit) — e.g., in Division 15 of the FDA Reg re adulteration of food, tolerance limits for lead are listed — see at p. 381 , the permissible lead limit for water is 0.2 ppm for “water in sealed containers other than mineral water or spring water”. See also a Polaris paper – Murky Waters – 2009.
“We can tell where the water came from…” – We don’t agree with Nestle on this, but we appreciate the opportunity to have a public debate with them about it!
