Bottled water regulations even more lax than previously thought

OTTAWA - March 26, 2009 – In response to a January 2009, Question on the Order Paper from Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, the Government of Canada responded with further troubling information about the lack of government regulatory oversight of bottled water.

The government’s response included the following:

- In the last 12 months the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has only inspected 16 of the 282 (6%) bottled water plants in Canada – “From April 1, 2008 until the present, the CFIA has completed a total of 16 inspections of bottled water manufacturers across Canada.”
- The CFIA only tests bottled water products when problems have already been detected - "CFIA will test for [these] bacteria when the manufacturer is out of compliance and/or has been implicated in foodborne outbreaks."
- There are no requirements for bottled water producers to report to the government if their own testing detects contamination - "Under the Food and Drug Act there is no requirement for a water bottling company to report to the Government the contamination of its product detected by internal testing procedures."
- There is no mandatory reporting to the public on risky products - "If the product sold may pose a risk to the consumers, it is the company's responsibility to inform the public and initiate a product recall."
- Essentially, the responsibility for recalling contaminated products is left in the hands of the company – “If the laboratory results demonstrate that there is a risk for the consumers, it is the company’s responsibility to ensure that the product is not sold or is removed from the market.”

On the heels of the exposure of 29 recalls of 49 bottled water products since 2000, information obtained by the Polaris Institute through Access to Information, the announcement that the bottled water industry is essentially self-regulating and is not required to inform the public of recalls shows a serious lack of regulatory control by the government of Canada over bottled water production.

"This startling information should raise red flags across the country. It begs the question: are the 29 recalls just the tip of the iceberg,” says Joe Cressy, Campaigns Coordinator of the Polaris Institute.

"It seems that we have a situation in Canada where the fox is guarding the hen house. Simply put, this is unacceptable and it's time for the Government of Canada to take action on bottled water" says Tony Clarke, Executive Director of the Polaris Institute.

Visit www.polarisinstitute.org [1] to view the report on bottled water regulations in Canada

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For More Information:
Joe Cressy, 613-668-5542, joecressy@polarisinstitute.org [2]
Tony Clarke, 613-769-9226 or, 613-747-8374 tclarke@polarisinstitute.org [3]
Richard Girard, 613-237-1717 ext 105