Okay, I don’t know for sure that bottled water is a scam, but I had to come out strong. My dad sent me the Ideal Bite Tip from the other day that suggested using home filters to clean your water rather then bottled water. It made me think about how ridiculous I think the bottled water industry is.
I haven’t been alive that long, but I clearly remember when there was no such thing as bottled water and I didn’t think twice before drinking my water straight from the tap. Now a days kids I work with think having to drink water from the tap is disgusting. Here’s an anecdotal experiment: I am not more sick or had diarrhea or any other ailments now then I was ten and fifteen years ago when I was also drinking tap water. In the meantime, I can’t go to a meeting at work now were a pitch of water is available, it’s either bottles or soda.
I could be wrong, but here’s a brief collection of facts on the bottled water industry…
From Ideal Bite on the benefits of filtering rather then bottling:
- Save the 1.5 million tons of plastic expended in the bottling of 89 billion liters of water each year.
- Get rid of contaminants normally found in tap water such as chlorine, cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead and pesticide runoff.
- Save money – Pitcher or faucet filters cost about $600 over 5 years. Bottled water services or bottles cost nearly $2000 in that same timeframe!
- Filters are a safer bet – up to 40% of all bottled water comes from a city water system, just like tap water.
Not that I’m advertising filters either, but I think we need to consider we’ve really been advertised into this bottle water craving. Here are a few more links:
I completely think that bottled water IS a scam. All you have to do is look at the label and it will tell you which municipality’s water system it was bottled from. So, yeah, it’s no different from filtering your own tap water. Sometimes they distill it as well, though. Unless you buy only spring water. Spring water is different, does not have fluoride added to it, etc. And if you’ve never checked into the whole water fluoridation thing, you should. It’s my primary reason for not drinking tap water. Most regular water filtration systems do not filter the fluoride out either. You have to have a reverse osmosis filter…a Berkey water filter is the best (but even their filters have to have an extra attachment for filtering the fluoride). It’s a nice-looking stand-alone system. They’re pretty expensive to start out, about $300, but they filter ANYTHING. You can put lake water in it if you want to…a survival must-have. So, I put links to fluoride videos below…the first two of them are links to Channel 4 newscasts about fluoride here in Nashville. My boyfriend is on this first clip as someone trying to stop water fluoridation in Sumner County. The last one is a 30 minute video about the history and dangers of fluoride. If you’re careful about what enters your body, you should check it out. I’m sorry this is so long!!! I’ll shut up now.
http://www.wsmv.com/video/10846883/detail.html
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4876909488212286065
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7319752042352089988&q=fluoride
I come from a family of dentists and have worked in a dental office myself, and I would have to argue that the lack of flouride is one of the primary problems with drinking bottled water. Flouride is a naturally occurring compound that can help prevent dental decay. When you don’t get any of it, that’s not good news for your teeth. Fortunately, flouride treatments and flouride toothpaste are a more regular part of dental care these days, and the rise in popularity of bottled water is a huge part of that. From here, I’ll refer you to a fact sheet from the ADA (American Dental Association) about flouride and flouridation, which demonstrates the need for flouride and addresses the general fears. It can be found here:
http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/index.asp
Anyway, all I really came over here to comment about was the fact that probably the best $10 I’ve spent this year was on my 32 oz. Nalgene bottle. Combined with my home filter, I’ve saved myself a great deal of money, and spared the rest of the world the plastic waste. And I drink a whole lot more water than I used to.
Wrong!!! Sodium Fluoride is a POISON!
Whether or not an individual believes fluoride to be of value or not is not really the issue. The issue is allowing the government to decide on this for us. If an individual believes fluoride to be of benefit there are ways that individual can add fluoride to their daily regimens. However, for the government to make that decision for ALL is a violation of individual rights and they have no right to interfere and add fluoride or anything else to the municipal water system other than to keep the water SAFE for drinking, It is the individual's right to decide for themselves whether they want to add fluoride to their regimen through toothpastes and rinses. It is also the right of the individual to NOT have a substance FORCED on them by the government by adding it to the municipal water system.
Ever since the bottled water fad took off, I’ve refused to buy it. I’ve repeated to friends: You know, ‘Evian’ spelled backwards is ‘naive’…
the book i just got finished reading (consumed) talked about this. how marketing and advertising basically dreamed up a whole industry. and basically there are 10x’s more nutrients in tap. they did this huge study. anyway.
To Christy: I would just say that it would still be worth you checking into it. Did you get a chance to view the videos? The major point is that the advantage that fluoride does provide to the teeth is proven to be only topically (when it touches your teeth). Swallowing it does absolutely nothing, and can actually harm them. Even the ADA has recently had to admit that you should not use fluoridated water in your infant’s formula because of possibilities of dental fluorosis (a cosmetic problem, appearing as sort of brown & white mottled teeth). I guarantee if you look around you, you will see someone with this condition. To quote their study: “Recent studies cited in the report of the National Research Council (NRC), “Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards,” have raised the possibility that infants could receive a greater than optimal amount of fluoride through liquid concentrate or powdered baby formula that has been mixed with water containing fluoride during a time that their developing teeth may be susceptible to enamel fluorosis.” The other main issue is that fluoride can have an affect on major organs, especially the thyroid. It used to be used as a thyroid medication because it actually shrinks your thyroid. Unregulated ingestion of any medication when everyone can admit that different people ingest larger or smaller amounts of it, and your genetic make-up can determine how much your body can handle. 98% of Western Europe has banned fluoridation citing medical and ethical concerns. And as for the naturally occurring part, there is 100 times more fluoride in tap water than in breast milk. So, use fluoridated toothpaste and mouthwash and whatever you like, but there is absolutely NO reason to swallow it. So, as I said about something in blog recently, please go think for yourself and research it. (Not trying to be a smart aleck, I really would like people to research things!!) I know that the ADA is a major proponent, but there were
reputable health organizations in the 50’s stating that lead was safe to put in gasoline, and we all know where that went. I’m not stating that dentists or the ADA are stupid, just that science emerges as time goes on, and it’s time to take another look at the science of water fluoridation.
Thanks for posting this, Ariah! It’s something ive been thinking a lot about lately. a couple nights ago my small group got in a discussion about how bottled water is affecting people’s teeth (my pastor’s dentist told him that) since we use it so much now. I hesitated to add my “bottled water is just a scam under my breath,” and then more cynicism when they were talking about how great fluoride is. I’ve heard fluoride in large doses can make a person apathetic (I guess that could be related to the thyroid shrinking, as Connie mentioned). So maybe America’s problems of apathy really go no further than the water coming from their tap…this is all really interesting to think about!
Oh, and I also have the tooth discoloration from fluoride as a child–my brother and I were born just in time for it to b the best thing ever, and not in time for any parents to know about negative side affects. oh well!
OK…I’m so sorry, Ariah, for taking over your comments. I have way too much to say about this. First, I neglected to finish one of my sentences above…”Unregulated ingestion of any medication…is always a bad idea.” That’s where I was going with that. Second, thanks, Melissa, for bringing up another valuable point…I was trying to stay on the socially acceptable reasons to reject fluoride, but it is true that fluoride increases to apathy. We all know they did medical experiments on people in Nazi concentration camps. Fluoride was one of the things they studied. They learned that in large quantities, it literally makes people retarded. In small quantities, it makes them apathetic, so they began dosing the water at the camps to prevent revolts and uprisings. Don’t just listen to me, research it yourself. Another little-known fact about fluoride is that your body does not expel it. ALL of the fluoride you have ingested in your entire life remains in your body, so it is a cumulative poison. It calcifies in the penial gland in your brain, which can lead to other health defects, one of which can be early onset puberty in adolescents. Another admittedly possible health effect is a rare type of fatal bone cancer in young boys. “As acknowledged by the U.S. National Toxicology Program there is a “biological plausibility” of a link between fluoride exposure and osteosarcoma. The biological plausibility centers around three facts: 1) Bone is the principal site of fluoride accumulation, particularly during the growth spurts of childhood; 2) Fluoride is a mutagen when present at sufficient concentrations, and 3) Fluoride can artificially stimulate the proliferation of bone cells (osteoblasts).” Again, so sorry. Maybe I’m done now.
Connie, go for it, I love learning new things from comments on topics I’m interested in.
I didn’t think this topic would get quite as many comments as it did. Keep up the conversation…
I was going to complain about fluoride, but Connie has done a good job for me. As she said, the benefits of fluoride are topical, not systemic so it makes no sense to get it through your water supply. Fluoride only saves an average of one tooth surface per person (not the entire tooth, just one surface on the tooth). As someone with minor dental fluorosis, I would have preferred to take the “risk” of going without. Or I would have chosen topical rather than systemic (My mom gave me fluoride pills at the suggestion of my doctor because our home water was not fluoridated. We also got a lot of fluoridated water from other sources.) I do wonder whether my uncle’s death from osteosarcoma could have been contributed to by fluoridated water. Some people have reactions to fluoride that make them unable to drink tap water without suffering from chronic illness.
Christy sites the ADA, but there are dental associations in other countries that are taking a different approach. But even if the ADA is correct (and there is too much evidence that they are not), the government still has no right to forcibly medicate its citizens. In fact, the FDA never approved fluoride. It was grandfathered in when the FDA was formed.
While some bottled water does come straight from municipal sources, it is often filtered by reverse osmosis which eliminates most fluoride. Even when bottled water contains fluoride, there are regulations about the amount than can be used. Municipal water supplies do not have to follow these regulations.
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It is also important to note that unfiltered tap water can be unsafe for some people. For example, pregnant women who drink unfiltered tap water are more likely to miscarry. While we fill up our own bottles at home and take them with us, sometimes we run out. I have no qualms about using bottled water in these situations, at least until I can trust public places to offer filtered water. One of my most environmentally unfriendly actions is to keep bottled water in the trunk of my car for times when its needed.
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One more thing re: Nalgene bottles that everyone seems to recommend. These leach plastic into the water after they have been washed a few times. It is much better to get a stainless steel lined Thermos, Kleen Kanteen, or something similar.
Wow! Lots of great info here. Especially about the flouride in the Nazi era. I had no idea!
As for the main topic, bottled water, it is definately a scam. Look at the cost of a gallon of wate compared to the price of a gallon of gasoline. Scary!! Water should be free, yet our country has turned it into a commodity to be bought and sold. 🙁 Ridiculous, if you ask me.
I agree wholeheartedly with Connie’s point of view. Flouride is completely evil. Always has been…always will be. It makes me furious that they are trying their best to “force” us to drink it. Blah!!!
Peace,
Jamie
Wanted to add this:
Look at the price of bottled water in your area per ounce, then compare with the price of gas per ounce.
*(conversion is 128 ounces per gallon)*
– SIX 20 oz. bottles of water (120 oz.) at appx. $1.29 each=
grand total is $7.74
– 128 oz. (or one gallon) of gasoline=
grand total is about $3.00
Interesting, huh….
When Coca-Cola opened a water bottling plant in England about a year back, it turned out they were taking tap water and somehow managing to increase the concentration of a chemical to four times the EU-recommended safe limit. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take off.
Certainly tap water across Europe, and almost certainly across the US, has to conform to health and safety regulations. So there’s really no benefit to drinking bottled water, apart from the convenience of having it in a bottle. And I have a metal water bottle for that.
A common complaint is that bottled water tastes better than tap water. A lot of that is to do with the water temperature – simply putting tap water in the fridge (or running the tap until it goes cold) makes the tastes almost indistinguishable. And even “hard” water (the stuff that makes limescale build up in your kettle) is OK once you get used to it.
Most people in my college drink tap water (which is hard water), since that’s what hall (the cafeteria) provides for free on the tables, and it doesn’t seem to unduly affect anyone.
Everyone should read the makers diet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!