FDA Less Careful With Bottled Water Than EPA Is With Tap Water.
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In a story that generated a great deal of media interest, congressional hearings today focused on two separate reports that concluded that the EPA regulates tap water more carefully than the FDA does bottled water. The Wall Street Journal reports :
(7/9, Zhang) "The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the $11.2 billion" bottled water industry, "doesn't keep track of companies that produce bottled water and doesn't require companies to report positive tests for contaminants, federal officials told a House hearing Wednesday. Consumer advocates testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations panel that bottlers should be required to disclose more information to consumers." FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua M. Sharfstein "testified that the agency regulates bottled water as a food and doesn't know which companies among registered food firms make bottled water. Moreover, he said, the FDA has limited power to require more information on labels, and he put in a pitch for legislation that would boost the FDA's funding and authority for food safety."
NBC Nightly News (7/8, story 8, 1:15, Williams), the CBS Evening News (7/8, story 8, 2:15, Couric), ABC World News (7/8, story 8, 2:10, Gibson), and the New York Times (7/9, Fuller) also cover the story.
CQ Healthbeat (7/9, Stephenson) reports, "Although bottled water is marketed as healthier and safer than what comes out of the faucet, the federal government regulates tap water more strictly, according to two new reports discussed Wednesday at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing." Joshua M. Sharfstein, FDA's principal deputy commissioner said the agency "plans to address a major difference involving contaminant levels between its requirements and the EPA's rules for tap water. The EPA has set a maximum contaminant level for DEHP, a chemical used in the production of plastic that is considered a probable carcinogen. The FDA considered passing a rule in 1996 but deferred action, Sharfstein said."