CoC-Guelph [NEWS]: Nestle & Canadian Springs attack the Council of Canadians
It seems Nestle is now starting to play hardball now that a number of municipalities are considering banning bottled water from municipal buildings. Please read the message from Brent Patterson below that includes a letter from Nestle to Cambridge City Council attacking the work of the Council of Canadians, among others.
It is true that Council of Canadians does not typically *perform* our own scientific based, peer-reviewed studies. That is because, as a volunteer-based organization, we frequently rely on data from studies performed at other institutions, such as Canadian universities. In addition, the tireless research that the organization does that is not 'peer-reviewed', such as the research Maude does for her books, cannot be summarily dismissed as 'false statements'. Just because something is not peer-reviewed does not mean it is false, as Nestle asserts below. Nestle has to back up such claims with scientific research, something they rarely do.
Dave
CoC-Guelph.ca
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Brent Patterson
Dear chapter activists,
Nestle Waters has written the city council of Cambridge, Ontario saying, "Statements made quoting research from such environmental lobbyists as the Suzuki Foundation, the Council of Canadians, the Polaris Institute or the Pacific Institute are false statements as these organizations do not perform scientific based, peer-reviewed studies of water, the bottled water industry or hydrogeology. The Suzuki Foundation, the Council of Canadians and Polaris Institute typically quote information found on the internet or attributed to the Pacific Institute an American environmental lobby group which has no record of funding independent, third party research on these matters."
In a letter to the editor published in the National Post on October 4, Richard Stephens, president and CEO of Canadian Springs Water Company, writes, "Maude Barlow, national chairperson of The Council of Canadians, is of the opinion that drinking bottled water somehow puts stress on Canada 's water supply. The water supply is not negatively impacted because whatever is consumed as bottled water is simply not consumed as tap water. Thus, the net effect is actually zero...As Ms. Barlow acknowledges, if spring water is not drawn for bottled water or other purposes, it finds its way into rivers and subsequently oceans, thus becoming salt water and of no use to humans as drinking water. In one article Ms. Barlow suggests that we have 'nice clean, safe, water coming out of our taps' but in the other, she is quoted as saying 'pollution continues to be a concern in the Great Lakes .'" The full letter can be read at http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=859690
We will respond more fully in a letter to the editor, but the Canadian Springs argument that the net effect on the water supply of bottled water vs. tap water is zero ignores various facts, including a survey covering the North American bottled water industry showing that Canada exported 272 million litres of bottled water to the United States in 1998. Given the growth of the bottled water industry over the past decade that figure has likely only increased. Their argument also ignores the evidence of the tremendous amount of energy used in the production and distribution of bottled water, not to mention the landfill waste it creates. To suggest that if spring water isn’t bottled it only flows into rivers and oceans ignores the fact that water is a finely balanced part of complex ecosystems and that there is no such thing as surplus water. And to suggest that Maude’s concern for pollution in our Great Lakes implies that our municipal drinking water is unsafe is ludicrous. Additional argumentation can be read in our fact sheet ‘five reasons to ban bottled water’ at http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Unbottle%20It/factsheet.html.
Your actions are making a difference. Bottled water companies are clearly on the defensive and are now directly taking on the Council of Canadians and other organizations fighting against bottled water. To find out more about the Council of Canadians’ ‘Unbottle it!’ campaign, please go to http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Unbottle%20It/index.html. Finally, we thank our friends at the Polaris Institute for forwarding the comments from Nestle Waters to us.
Brent Patterson
Director of Campaigns and Communications
The Council of Canadians
700-170 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5
1-800-387-7177 ext. 291