EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

[Bugfatty300]

When I worked in Bahrain in the 1980s I boiled the tap water then put it through a water filter. I was working outside in temperatures over 40C and would take 1.5 gallons of this water with me to work each day. No need for bottled water in most parts of the world.

I could do all that or I could spend 50 cents to refill a 5 gallon jug. I already have to stoke a fire every time I want to take a shower, I'd rather not have to do the same for my drinking water and I'd think most of my neighbors would agree. Bottled water is just like any other modern convenience. Most people may not need it to survive but it makes people's lives a lot easier and that's good enough for me.

 

[Silurian]

I could do all that or I could spend 50 cents to refill a 5 gallon jug. I already have to stoke a fire every time I want to take a shower, I'd rather not have to do the same for my drinking water and I'd think most of my neighbors would agree. Bottled water is just like any other modern convenience. Most people may not need it to survive but it makes people's lives a lot easier and that's good enough for me.

If you do not have electricity to boil a kettle then buying water is a logical solution.
Glad to see that you are not buying bottles just refilling your storage jug. If you have electricity then it is not very inconvenient to boil a full kettle when you want a cup of coffee and pour the reminder into the water filter.

If you are not driving somewhere it may be easier to buy bottled water where you are working if you need large quantities. If you are going out for a run it is not much harder to carrying a refillable bottle rather a disposable bottle and it is far cheaper.

 

[emzie]

True for some countries, like The Netherlands (our tabwater is among the highest in quality, I believe)
But there still are countries were you can't drink tabwater, so it's not that crazy that compagnies sell bottled water..

Hence why I said "in the west"

This isn't a question of whether water will dehydrate; this is a question of whether businesses should be allowed to market their products as something that can prevent dehydration.

1) Water isn't the only product that will dehydrate you. Coca Cola will too, but if Coca Cola tried to say “regular consumption of significant amounts of Coca Cola can reduce the risk of development of dehydration”, we would rightly tell them to shove off, even though the statement is factually accurate.

2) Water will not necessarily rehydrate you, if you are suffering from dehydration. Many people have already said why: it's not just a matter of liquid, but also minerals, salts, and the presence of disease.

3) Water will obviously make you less thirsty. If you feel dehydrated - that is, if you feel thirsty - then it's pretty god damn obvious that drinking water will make you less thirsty. It is completely unnecessary to advertise the product as "drinking regular amounts of this product will make you less thirsty". See the cereal comic.

4) By advertising that this bottle of water can prevent dehydration, it implies that there is something special about this bottle of water. As I said, everyone old enough to talk knows that drinking water will make you less thirsty; if a product says that it is explicitly rehydrating, then that implies that there is something more to this water than simply being water. Perhaps it has special rehydration properties that I'm not aware of. Who knows.

For all those reasons, water shouldn't be allowed to be marketed as "rehydrating", or whatever. At best, it's a completely unnecessary statement of the obvious, and at worst it is a dangerously misleading ploy to get you to buy a product that comes out of your taps for 0.1% of the cost. Laws and regulations exist to benefit society at large. What benefit to society is there of allowing marketers to advertise water as rehydrating?

I understand all your points. I understood them when I made this thread. Such a regulation still seems insane at best. If some people can't figure out that water is water is water, I see no point in trying to protect their money from their stupidity. At a point, and I think this far surpasses it, protecting consumers just turns into a condescending I'm-smarter-than-you exorcise from wannabe technocrats.

 

[Bugfatty300]

If you do not have electricity to boil a kettle then buying water is a logical solution.
Glad to see that you are not buying bottles just refilling your storage jug. If you have electricity then it is not very inconvenient to boil a full kettle when you want a cup of coffee and pour the reminder into the water filter.

If you are not driving somewhere it may be easier to buy bottled water where you are working if you need large quantities. If you are going out for a run it is not much harder to carrying a refillable bottle rather a disposable bottle and it is far cheaper.

Well, like 99% of Mexico, my stove uses gas which is something I also have to refill. Even with an electric stove I'd still have a spike in the power bill from boiling water everyday. So either way I have to pay for the water. At present the most convenient and cheapest way to get drinking water is to buy it (in bulk) from a store.

 

[ori]

Hence why I said "in the west"



I understand all your points. I understood them when I made this thread. Such a regulation still seems insane at best. If some people can't figure out that water is water is water, I see no point in trying to protect their money from their stupidity. At a point, and I think this far surpasses it, protecting consumers just turns into a condescending I'm-smarter-than-you exorcise from wannabe technocrats.

The regulation is not actually saying anything about this particular claim though, the food labeling rules of the EU just disallow any health claims on food unless they are approved. This particular claim was now denied approval, nothing much the technocrats could have done differently.

 

[mayor]

Hence why I said "in the west"

well... there are regions in France and other southern European countries where you can't drink tab water...

 

[Bugfatty300]

Hence why I said "in the west".

I'm pretty sure I live in the west.

 

[Mise]

I understand all your points. I understood them when I made this thread. Such a regulation still seems insane at best. If some people can't figure out that water is water is water, I see no point in trying to protect their money from their stupidity. At a point, and I think this far surpasses it, protecting consumers just turns into a condescending I'm-smarter-than-you exorcise from wannabe technocrats.

Actually it's the opposite. A company telling people that water can make you less thirsty is like telling bears that they can crap in the woods. We all know this simple fact from birth, through millions of years of evolution. We all know that water is water; we don't need to be told that water is water in an advert.

The bottom line is that allowing companies to state the obvious and market it as a unique benefit is just as bogus as claiming that pizza is as healthy as a vegetable. We all know that pizza may contain vegetables, so why allow the claim that pizza may contain vegetables?

 

[Verbose]

well... there are regions in France and other southern European countries where you can't drink tab water...

In my experience, of southern France at least, you can. You just have to like the taste of chlorine in the morning...

 

[mayor]

In my experience, of southern France at least, you can. You just have to like the taste of chlorine in the morning...

because chlorine isn't bad for your health or anything....

 

[Winner]

I wonder why people still buy bottled water. It's expensive as hell, and where I live at least tap water is very good. Probably better than the crap they sell in bottles for many times the price. For the last... 6 years or so, I've been drinking tap water.

 

[Mise]

I literally only buy bottled water for the bottle, rather than for the water. Having a bottle of water with you is quite handy especially in the summer.

 

[Atticus]

I've bought bottles too only for the sake of bottle, but usually juice concentrate, which aren't in return bottles here. I often drink water during the day just to keep mind clear and to overcome desire for coffee. In summer a water bottle is compulsory.

Tap water here is good for drinking, and I was amazed as a kid upon learning that people actually buy water in bottles. It was like if they bought air. (I of course have bought air in a bottle years after that).

 

[Yeekim]

Tap water here is good for drinking, and I was amazed as a kid upon learning that people actually buy water in bottles. It was like if they bought air.

Same here

 

[Winner]

In Czechia, buying bottled water (we call it literally "mineral water") became a bit of a fad when Communism ended. Now it's finally getting back to normal - people realized it is a waste of money to buy bottled water when the stuff that flows from the tap is just as good, and way cheaper.

 

[Rulle_Kebab]

Anyone of you seen the movie called "Blue Gold"?
Canadian movie about how companies and the IMF are forcing their way in and buying up whole countries water supply.
I think in Bolivia they at one point even bought the rights to rainwater so it was illegal to collect it yourself! Untill there was revolts against it.
These companies, coca-cola(dasani i think it is), perrier and so on are very nasty in that regard.
And the devoloping countries are forced by the IMF to privatise their water supplies.
And the water is running out! Ofcourse we can purify the sea water but at huge costs and then water will be in the hands of big companies who can afford the purifying process.
Bottled water should be banned. Buying water pumped in France, transported 1000s of miles and sold for 1000 times the real price is just plain silly.
So yeah im all for regulations and making life as hard as possible for those companies.
But take a look at the movie... it might be an eye opener for many.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137439/

 

[Camikaze]

'Mineral water' here is sparkling/carbonated water, which is different, and it's understanable to buy that in a bottle. I understand the idea of buying bottled water for some people; when travelling, always buy bottled, never drink local. Even if the water is fine for locals, you may not be accustomed to it, and you could get sick. Or so the advice goes. But for locals who have access to either clean tap water, filtration systems or a kettle and fridge, then I don't get why you'd waste your money on bottled water (more than the one time it takes to purchase a bottle for repeat use). If bottled water companies were to advertise their product as some sort long-term preventative for dehydration, then that could cause people to buy it instead of using tap water.

 

[Verbose]

Same here

Yep. We should perhaps all be looking to bottle and sell our northern watery goodness?

 

[GoodGame]

It makes sense if the intent was to block people claiming bottled water was better than (boiled) tap water.

However, purified bottled water would be preferable to tap water infected with cholera, with respect to preventing dehydration!

 

[Silurian]

Yep. We should perhaps all be looking to bottle and sell our northern watery goodness?

Well that has already been tried

From Wiki

Dasani was launched in the UK on 10 February 2004. The product launch was labelled "a disaster",[6] a "fiasco"[7] and a "PR catastrophe".[7]

Early advertisements referred to Dasani as "bottled spunk" or featured the tagline "can't live without spunk". These slogans were used seemingly oblivious to the fact that spunk is slang for semen in the UK.[8][9]

Prior to the launch, an article in The Grocer trade magazine had mentioned that the source of the Dasani brand water was in fact treated tap water from Sidcup, a suburban development in London. By early March 2004, the mainstream press had picked up on the story[10] and it became widely reported that Sidcup tap water was being treated, bottled and sold under the Dasani brand name in the UK.[6] Although Coca-Cola never implied that the water was being sourced from a spring or other natural source, they marketed it as being especially "pure". This led the Food Standards Agency to request Hillingdon trading standards officers to launch an investigation into whether the claim was accurate.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani