Brussels bureaucrats faced ridicule for banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration. EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact. And now manufacturers of bottled water are forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.
Conservative MEP Roger Helmer felt the EU officials are contradicting both science and common sense. He said, “This is stupidity writ large. The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true. If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”
NHS health guidelines state clearly that drinking water helps avoid dehydration, and that Britons should drink at least 1.2 litres per day. A Department for Health spokesman said, “Of course water hydrates. While we support the EU in preventing false claims about products, we need to exercise common sense as far as possible.”
A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control. Now the EFSA verdict has been turned into an EU directive which was issued on Wednesday.
Prof Andreas Hahn, from the Institute for Food Science and Human Nutrition at Hanover Leibniz University, said the European Commission had made another mistake with its latest ruling. “What is our reaction to the outcome? Let us put it this way: We are neither surprised nor delighted. The European Commission is wrong; it should have authorized the claim. That should be more than clear to anyone who has consumed water in the past, and who has not? We fear there is something wrong in the state of Europe.”
Prof Brian Ratcliffe, spokesman for the Nutrition Society, said dehydration was usually caused by a clinical condition and that one could remain adequately hydrated without drinking water. He said, “The EU is saying that this does not reduce the risk of dehydration and that is correct. This claim is trying to imply that there is something special about bottled water which is not a reasonable claim.”
EU spokesman David D’Arcy said last night, “Of course drinking water is essential for health and the commission is not stopping anyone from saying so. This is a specific case with specific characteristics. Either way the final decision is for member states.”
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