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BOTTLED WATER CLAIMS BY COKE, PEPSI, NESTLÉ PUT TO TEST IN NATIONWIDE TAP WATER CHALLENGE ''Think Outside the Bottle'' Campaign to Reveal How Corporations Mislead Consumers About Bottled Water For Immediate Release: Contact: BOSTON--People across the US are participating today in Tap Water Challenges in cities to test Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi's bottled water advertising. It is all part of Corporate Accountability International's national "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, which cites bottled water as the most visible example of increasing corporate control of our water. By encouraging consumers to "think outside the bottle," the campaign is a direct challenge to the marketing muscle and myths of the bottled water industry. Half of all Americans drink bottled water, and one in six Americans drink only bottled water. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé water brands account for half of the $55 billion bottled water market, and Coke and Pepsi both use tap water as their source. "Many people do not realize that the most popular bottled waters come from the tap and are resold to the public at hundreds or thousands of times the cost," said Corporate Accountability International Campaigns Director Patti Lynn. "Corporations like Coke, Pepsi and Nestlé promote bottled water as pure, safe, healthy and superior to tap water, but bottled water is actually less regulated than tap water." In 2004, half a million bottles of Coke's Dasani were recalled in the United Kingdom after they were found to contain bromate, a carcinogen. And a Natural Resources Defense Council study found that bottled water was no safer--and sometimes less safe--than tap water, with harmful contaminants like arsenic detected in some brands. Activists across the country are organizing Tap Water Challenges, daring city residents to put on blindfolds and try to tell the difference between Coke's Dasani, Pepsi's Aquafina, Nestlé's Poland Spring, and their own public tap water. National tap water challenges are scheduled to take place throughout this week, leading up to the United Nations' World Water Day on March 22. Tap Water Challenges will be conducted in Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco and Seattle. Passersby are asked to sample four cups of water blindfolded. Two cups will contain Dasani, Aquafina, or Poland Springs, and the other two contain water drawn from different public taps. Postcards with mock labels (Daphoni, Aquafib and Nasty) will be on hand for consumers to fill out and send to the three corporations. "This is about much more than price gouging or duping the public. Our human right to water is at stake," said Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Institute. "Problems of water scarcity and access loom larger as a profit-driven industry increasingly controls our water supply." For example, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) in Big Rapids, Michigan, has battled and won a major court victory in 2003 shutting down a Nestlé well field that supplies water for its bottled water operation. The trial court found Nestlé's well field operation substantially harmed a stream, two lakes, and rich diverse wetlands. After lobbying the governor and state chamber of commerce to their side, Nestlé was able to appeal the ruling, and won temporary permission to pump out and bottle 218 gallons of water each minute. The citizens group is appealing the case to the Michigan Supreme Court to prevent a shift in water law that would favor privatization of a public resource. "Spring water mining and pumping operations are hugely profitable in a very thirsty world. The privatization of water for profit and the diversion of water are no meaningful remedies for the world's serious problems of water pollution and water misusage grievously afflicting the poor," said Don Roy, political science professor and board member of MCWC. According to the United Nations, two-thirds of the world's people won't have access to enough water by 2025. In the face of limited water supply, corporations are increasingly seeking to turn water into a profit-driven commodity. Supplying water is already a $400 billion annual business--30 percent larger than the pharmaceutical industry. As consumers across the US take the Tap Water Challenge this week, giant corporations like Coke and Suez are participating in the Fourth World Water Forum, a major international gathering that promotes the interests of the private water industry, in Mexico City. The World Water Forum is organized by the World Water Council, a think tank dominated by private water corporations. Coke, which is facing growing international pressure for draining massive amounts of water from a number of Indian communities, is a sponsor of the Fourth World Water Forum. Activists from around the world are coming together to challenge increasing corporate control of water. Corporate Accountability International is joining with people's movements and NGOs from every region of the world in challenging the pro-privatization agenda of the Fourth World Water Forum. # # # Corporate Accountability International, formerly Infact, is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For over 25 years, we've forced corporations--like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria--to stop abusive actions. For more information visit www.stopcorporateabuse.org.
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