Peter Gleick is the President of the Pacific Institute based out of Oakland, California. Gleick is an engineer (PhD, Energy and Resources, UC Berkeley) and is an internationally recognized water expert. His new book "Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water" is all about the politics, economics and science of bottled water. Moreover, the book addresses marketing and advertising of bottled water, bottled water claims, the growing revolt against bottled water etc. Much of it is based on the United States.
In Peter Gleick's blog, he shares an excerpt from the book about contaminants in bottled water and it is pretty frightening. A number of contaminants have been found in bottled water including mold, kerosene, sanitizer and crickets. Crickets? That's right, according to Gleick:
"In 1994, a bottler in Nacogdoches, Texas issued a recall for sparkling water found to be contaminated with crickets. The water was distributed in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia and the recall notice wasn't issued until seven months after being bottled and distributed, making it unlikely that consumers were notified in time to avoid buying the contaminated bottles. Maybe they thought it was a bonus, like that worm in tequila, or the weird things sometimes found in flavored vodkas".
This really boils down to how we test and monitor our water, whether it is bottled or tap. Increasingly, we are seeing more experts and citizens asking questions around the implications of bottled water on our health. To read more, check out his blog.
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