Bottled Water Lobby's Misinformation Campaign: International Bottled Water Association Claims Tests Show No Contaminants, but Test Results Nowhere to Be Found.

(From AScribe)

WASHINGTON -- Yesterday, the lobby group for the bottled water industry used untruths, misleading statements and claims that were outright wrong in its attempt to dispel a study by Environmental Working Group (EWG) which found harmful chemicals in a number of popular U.S. brands.

Unfortunately, the list of false and misleading statements made by the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is rather long, but EWG prides itself on using the most accurate data in our own research and setting the record straight with most accurate information available.

IBWA: EWG tests show that two bottled water samples did not meet a California state standard for one regulated substance.

Fact: EWG tests show that three bottled water samples from two cities exceeded limits for known and suspected carcinogens set by California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (also known as Proposition 65) and the California health code on two counts:

- One chemical, bromodichloromethane, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has labeled a known carcinogen, and which was found at levels three to five times higher than California's Proposition 65 safety standard.

- A family of chemicals, trihalomethanes, which the EPA, California authorities and other governmental and international bodies consider cancer-causing by-products of municipal water treatment.

IBWA: The California requirement for trihalomethanes is eight times lower than the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standard of quality for bottled water and the EPA maximum contaminant level for tap water.

Fact: The California safety …