GAO report on regulation of bottled water
The Government Accountability Office released findings yesterday on differences between tap and bottled-water regulation. A highlight: “FDA does not have the specific statutory authority to require bottlers to use certified laboratories for water quality tests or to report test results, even if violations of the standards are found. Among GAO’s other findings, the state requirements to safeguard bottled water often exceed FDA’s, but still are often less comprehensive than state requirements to safeguard tap water.” You can read the full report, in pdf form, here.
Dana Milbank, in the Washington Post, found yesterday’s House commerce subcommittee hearing on “Regulation of Bottled Water” a bit dog bites man. Maybe because the hearing didn’t cover the upstream environmental and social costs of pumping, transporting, and bottling water, nor did it address the spectre of declining municipal-water quality as people give up on tap and buy their water, in bottles, from private companies.
Elizabeth Royte is the author of 
0 comments
Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment