… can’t be advertised as preventing dehydration. In “Europe’s ruling on water preventing dehydration – another ‘angels dancing on the head of a pin’ moment” (The Telegraph, November 21, 2011), Ed West reports,
EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.
Producers of bottled water are now 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
Apparently, the laws against “bent bananas and curved cucumbers” were blown away in 2008 in a hurricane of derision. No wonder. It’s right up there with the theory in some Middle Eastern jurisdictions that you mustn’t put tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. People might, we are told, start to imagine things. Things like … yuck, salad plate yet again for dinner? No, go look up what some people imagine!
Yes, that’s why most legal systems are not based on what some people imagine.
Bty the way, Britain’s
NHS health guidelines state clearly that drinking water helps avoid dehydration, and that Britons should drink at least 1.2 litres per day.
Our favourite line from the water wars:
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.
So get this straight: None of the preferred drinks, like coffee, tea, or OJ contain water, of course. If they did, they wouldn’t work.
Local colour note: It is common to see joggers pelting past in downtown Toronto, each armed with a bottle of branded water, usually secured just where a cowboy would have slung a six-gun, ready to hand. Someone needs to tell them that the contents will not prevent dehydration, the way they think.
Dihydrogen monoxide? A jape that went through years ago, ridiculing food safety warnings.
A friend writes to say, “This is what happens when science becomes an autoimmune disease that kills the wider culture ….”
Europe used to be a place you could go to get away from basically stupid food rules.