When Water Bottles Kill

By on April 26, 2010 in News 17

Last week I posted a story about Tapped filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig’s Get Off The Bottle tour. Stephanie and co-producer Sarah Olson came by the disinformation NYC offices and I asked her about her appearance on Fox Business Network’s John Stossel show the night before. I feared the worst after reading Stossel’s blog post in which he wrote: “On my FBN show, tonight at 8pm ET, I’ll confront director Stephanie Soechtig about the myths she’s pushing.”

Here’s the confrontation – who do you think comes out on top? My vote’s with Stephanie, although she didn’t have a chance to add information about some of the other problems of bottled water, such as the massive plastic garbage patches now floating in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

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  • Dean

    Disinfo is putting out a propaganda film put together by a former Bill O'Reilly staffer!! Haha, wow you couldn't make this stuff up.

    I have an idea for the next Disinfo film: Drink even more fluoride and pharmaceuticals! Maybe you can get Snerdly from the Limbuagh show to produce it?

    • http://disinfo.com Majestic

      Dean, would you care to elaborate on your objections to the film? Calling it propaganda seems to suggest that you disagree with the points made in the film; have you seen it? If so please feel free to post a critique of the issues raised by the filmmakers.

      One thing I think is clear from the clip posted in this story is that John Stossel doesn't agree with Ms. Soechtig that plastic water bottles may (and I use that word advisedly) cause health problems, but he does agree that drinking tap water is preferable, even if only because it costs less. From our perspective as a movie distributor, we don't feel the need to agree with everything in every film we are involved with, although personally I can say that I can't see many reasons why anyone would argue FOR bottled water over tap water, so long as the latter was filtered to remove chemicals, etc. Feel free to point out why I may be mistaken. Thank you.

      I look forward to your substantive views on the issues.

      • Dean

        According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
        Propaganda: 2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.

        The public consciousness has finally risen to the point where your average person understands that the water supply is pure poison and contains petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and on and on. The PBS documentary show Frontline did a great show on this which you can watch for free here –
        http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisone…

        So, now the public has woken up to this modern day holocaust and what does Disinfo do? You put out a hit piece about how gluttonous we all are for not wanting to ingest poison.

        The average water filter on the market is woefully inept in filtering out most of these contaminants in the water and that is a fact. Most of the public is ignorant to that fact and a worthless, piece of junk Brita water filter is a common item in American kitchens.

        The only hope I have for many of these people is that they have a spring water cooler at work and maybe pick up a bottle of spring water here & there, this way they are getting at least some untainted hydration. Obviously brands like Dasani that sell tap water are bunk and a waste and the insane use of toxic plastics is hurting everyone. But why pick on water bottles specifically Disinfo? Why not pick on the plastic boxes your 'Tapped' dvd is going to be housed in?

        If I had my way, good clean water would be free for all and it would be housed in glass containers only. That unfortunately is never going to happen, so in the meantime I will fight for my right to clean water and will resist obvious attacks on that right which the 'Tapped' film sets out to do.

        And besides all that, the person behind 'Tapped' is a former producer for Bill Fucking O'Reilly! I mean really? The people are waking up to the Hegelian Dialectic you are attempting to spin here Disinfo. Be on the right side of history Disinfo, let's all enter the No-Spin zone. :)

        • tonyviner

          In all fairness, Dasani is using environmentally friendly plastic bottles these days, made with a considerable amount of plant byproduct. Not that I would necessarily advocate going out of one's way to find this product and consume it.

          • Flux

            You might want to do some research on Dasani bud they have their own little ill history. Can we all wake up and understand this oil slick of chemicals that going into our water a good percent I might add is laced with chemical and hormone byproducts is without a doubt effecting the enviroment and our bodies. No reason to even bicker over the technicalities of it all. In essence it isnt and never was a good idea. The chain of events that lead too these type's of technologies is a long one and needs to be looked at, they rarely involve your health or wellbeing when they are writing that business plan.

          • tonyviner

            Believe me when I tell you that I have nothing but contempt for these multinationals that put profit before people. That is basically all that needs to be said on the matter. As with most things of this nature, the ones that are hearing the message are not necessarily the ones that need to.

          • Flux

            I concur with your sentiment. I might have worded that wrong I wasnt focusing that reply too you per say.

        • http://disinfo.com Majestic

          Thanks for the considered reply. There's no doubt that the chemicals in municipal supplied water are a serious problem. Choice of water filter is important and Brita does not to a very good job. You can compare various popular filters here:

          http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/water_fil…

          You will notice that there is no mention of fluoride. I actually wrote to Aquasana to question this and received this reply:

          “Thank you for taking the time to email us. Our systems do remove 2 of the 4 fluorine isotopes giving you a 40-60% overall reduction. The portion of the fluoride our system filters out is the synthetic portion, while leaving in the naturally occurring fluoride. However, you will not find this on our performance data sheet because of the percent of reduction. Our testing documents only list those contaminants that have been certified to be removed at a rate of 97% or greater, so we cannot include fluoride on the list. If you are looking to completely remove fluoride from your water, the only thing developed at this point is an aluminum based filter that adds aluminum into the water during the filtration process. We did not think that was a very desirable result, so we remove as much as possible without adding anything harmful back into the water.”

          Most bottled water does not remove fluoride, so far as I am aware, but feel free to correct me.

          I think before you continue to attacked “Tapped” that you will need to actually watch the film. When it is available it will not be in a plastic case, I can assure you. It was something that the filmmakers insisted on.

          Oh, and lastly, when we acquired the film we had no idea that Stephanie had worked for The O'Reilly Factor, although even if we had it would not have prejudiced us sufficiently to put us off the film. I wonder if she knew that we had released “Outfoxed,” come to think of it…

          • Dean

            Majestic – Your points about Fluoride is exactly what got me infuriated about the Tapped film in the first place. You are 100% correct that most water filters simply cannot truly eliminate Fluoride in a safe manner. This is where Spring Water enters the picture, including many brands that house Spring Water in glass bottles.

            According to http://www.fluoridealert.org/faqs.htm
            SPRING WATER: Another way to avoid fluoride from the tap is to drink spring water. Most spring water has less than 0.1 ppm fluoride, which is 10 times less than added for fluoridation. If you regularly consume a particular brand of spring water, call the telephone number on the label and ask the company how much fluoride is in their water. (This information will be readily available to them.) We recommend water with less than 0.1 ppm fluoride.

            Various brands are sold at health food and gourmet food stores across the country. If Tapped advocated a mass switch to this alternative – I'd be its new biggest fan. I'm afraid instead, Tapped aims to bury the Fluoride issue and push many well-intentioned people back onto the government poison. Hence my sincere skepticism of the intentions of the producer of this film, it just reeks of a sleight of hand trick to me.

            All that being said, I appreciate your intelligent replys and wish Disinfo luck with future projects, just not this one :)

          • oman28

            I was told once that the only way to remove fluorides from your water supply was to use a reverse osmosis system which is very expensive. I don't know if it's true or not though.

          • http://disinfo.com Majestic

            about.com has an article titled ” How to Remove Fluoride from Drinking Water” at:

            http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtogui…

            Most people are aware that there is a controversy surrounding public fluoridation of drinking water. Here is a list of ways to obtain drinking water without fluoride. In addition, I've listed water purification methods which do not remove fluoride from water.

            Ways to Remove Fluoride from Water

            * Reverse Osmosis Filtration
            This is used to purify several types of bottled water (not all), so some bottled waters are unfluoridated. Reverse osmosis systems are generally unaffordable for personal use.

            * Activated Alumina Defluoridation Filter
            These filters are used in locales where fluorosis is prevalent. They are relatively expensive (lowest price I saw was $30/filter) and require frequent replacement, but do offer an option for home water filtration.

            * Distillation Filtration
            There are commercially available distillation filters that can be purchased to remove fluoride from water. On a related note: When looking at bottled water, keep in mind that 'distilled water' does not imply that a product is suitable for drinking water and other undesirable impurities may be present.

            These Do NOT Remove Fluoride

            * Brita, Pur, and most other filters.
            Some websites about fluoride removal state otherwise, but I checked the product descriptions on the companies' websites to confirm that fluoride is left in the water.

            * Boiling Water
            This will concentrate the fluoride rather than reduce it.

            * Freezing Water
            Freezing water does not affect the concentration of fluoride.

            Steps to Reduce Fluoride Exposure

            * Don't take fluoride supplements.

            * Read labels on bottled beverages.
            Unless they are made using distilled or reverse-osmosis water, they are probably made with fluoridated public water.

            * Consider using unfluoridated toothpaste.

            * Avoid drinking black or red tea.
            They come from two different types of plants, but both leaves naturally contain high amounts of fluorine.

            * Be wary of tinned fish and canned food items.
            Fluoride may be used as a preservative.

            * Avoid black or red rock salt or items containing black or red rock salt.

            * Avoid using chewing tobacco.

            * Avoid long term use of medication that contains fluorine.
            Certain antidepressants and medications for osteoporosis contain fluorine.

          • Jessica

            What about Zero water brand filtration?

  • tonyviner

    They need to do an in depth report on all the girls that Stossel's mustache has raped, murdered and cannibalized over the course of the past twenty years.

  • Flux

    I concur with your sentiment. I might have worded that wrong I wasnt focusing that reply too you per say.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Maher/100000496500058 Paul Maher

    The National Academy of Sciences did a thorough review on fluoride in 2006. They documented numerous deleterious effects of fluoride on many organ systems including increased potential risk for bone fractures (the well characterized disease of skeletal fluorosis) possibly increased risk of osteosarcoma, reduced IQ, thyroid dysfunction, endocrine dysfunction and others all 300 pages is online if anyone cares to confirm it. Of course don’t forget fluoride induced dental fluorsosis (i.e. teeth mottling and a sign of toxic exposure to fluoride – the rate has increased dramatically subsequent to widespread water fluoridation with the CDC and others putting the prevalence somewhere around 30%) The NAS study ended with recommending that the EPA should more strictly regulate fluoride. Their findings mirror those in the peer-reviewed medical literature, while Harvard trained toxicologist Phyllis Mullenix also extensively documented behavioral changes in mice upon exposure to blood levels of fluoride not far greater than those experienced through water fluoridation and other sources of exposure. Former, well credentialed EPA scientists have been fired for bucking the political line on this issue. Meanwhile 90% of the fluoride placed into our water supply is not industrial grade sodium fluoride, it is silicofluorides, quite simply, scraped from the sides of Florida phosphate plant smokestacks. If it weren’t thrown into the water supply it would have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. You can read more on this starting here,

    http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/2009/11/water-fluoridation-part-i.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Maher/100000496500058 Paul Maher

    The National Academy of Sciences did a thorough review on fluoride in 2006. They documented numerous deleterious effects of fluoride on many organ systems including increased potential risk for bone fractures (the well characterized disease of skeletal fluorosis) possibly increased risk of osteosarcoma, reduced IQ, thyroid dysfunction, endocrine dysfunction and others all 300 pages is online if anyone cares to confirm it. Of course don’t forget fluoride induced dental fluorsosis (i.e. teeth mottling and a sign of toxic exposure to fluoride – the rate has increased dramatically subsequent to widespread water fluoridation with the CDC and others putting the prevalence somewhere around 30%) The NAS study ended with recommending that the EPA should more strictly regulate fluoride. Their findings mirror those in the peer-reviewed medical literature, while Harvard trained toxicologist Phyllis Mullenix also extensively documented behavioral changes in mice upon exposure to blood levels of fluoride not far greater than those experienced through water fluoridation and other sources of exposure. Former, well credentialed EPA scientists have been fired for bucking the political line on this issue. Meanwhile 90% of the fluoride placed into our water supply is not industrial grade sodium fluoride, it is silicofluorides, quite simply, scraped from the sides of Florida phosphate plant smokestacks. If it weren’t thrown into the water supply it would have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. You can read more on this starting here,

    http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/2009/11/w…

  • Jessica

    What about Zero water brand filtration?