More Bottled Water Bashing: CBS Attacks Industry and Pushes for Regulation

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It's an oldie, but a goodie for the broadcast media - attacking bottled water, a legitimate product that produces billions of dollars in sales annually.

The September 10 "CBS Evening News" went after the bottled water industry, suggesting that a lack of regulations for purification and testing meant bottled water is unsafe.

"The marketing campaigns say it all - bottled water is a pure healthy choice for consumers and millions of Americans are swallowing that message," CBS correspondent Thalia Assuras said. "Despite research showing that almost 40 percent actually comes out of taps, including Pepsi's Aquafina, Coke's Dasani and Nestle's Pure-Life, consumers spent $11 billion last year buying it off the shelves, convinced it's healthier. Food safety experts say there is no evidence of that."

"Evening News" trotted an anti-industry expert to criticize the entire notion of bottled water - calling her a "food-safety expert."

"It's a scam. It's a rip-off," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of anti-business advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said. "Tap water is safer. It's required to be tested more often and bottled water companies never have to test their water after bottling and storage. You don't really know what you're getting."

The group, founded in 2005, opposes corporate involvement in food production.

Assuras used Hauter's claims to call for a more rigorous regulatory system for the bottled water industry.

"Blame the regulatory system," she said. "This tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which requires thousands of tests annually for contaminants. What's in here [bottled water] is monitored by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). But, the FDA has no specific bottled water program and no inspectors assigned solely to testing."

But if Assuras' earlier point - that 40 percent of bottled water comes from tap water - is true, then at least 40 percent of bottled water already faces EPA scrutiny. And she didn't mention that bottled "tap water" like PepsiCo's Aquafina, is purified before bottling.