Yan Song Ms.

Caruso Engl 1102 21 February 2013

Bottled Water: A Controversial Product

http://prezi.com/nprrvy_75dtg/untitled-prezi/?kw=view-nprrvy_75dtg&rc=ref-31408373

A huge increasing number of bottled water was product during past several years, however the argument have never been stoped along the time. On the one hand, the byproduct of bottled water is plastic bottle, which is made by nondegradable material. At this point, it is kind like plastic bug, though the garbage collection of bottled water is much more thorough than plastic bag, it is a serious environmental problem anyway. On the other hand, the actual function of bottled water is disputed more than the environmental aspect. Usually, this debate is produced between water corporation and some health institutes. From my own experience, I would like to choose bottled just because it is convenient, I can get them almost anywhere especially during driving or traveling. Carrying a 2-pound water is not what I am expecting when I want relax myself outdoor. Also, I have raised many questions about bottled water and I did some researches related to them. In fact, these are what I am going to explain in this paper. My main inquiry question is is it necessary for everybody to drink bottled water?. I have realized the answer would be absolutely no, nonetheless, I am looking for the information of bottled water which is not from some websites such as Wikkippedia. Later, I

found a article in website of Center for disease control. They introduce the consumption of bottled water in United states nowadays that Americans spent billions of dollars every year on bottled water and this number is keeping increasing year by year. This article answered my question as well, People with compromised immune systems may want to take special precautions with the water they drink. In healthy individuals, the parasite Cryptosporidium can cause illness; however, for those with weakened immune systems, it can cause severe illness and possibly death. Look for bottled water treatments that protect against Cryptosporidium ( Commercially Bottled Water, Paragraph 3). In this quote, I understand it is necessary to drink bottled water for a absolute kind of person just because they have physical problems, though I did not know what does Immunocompromised Individuals mean. This article also mention the bottled water on market is reliable because the Food and Drug Administration had published some regulated rules that any water industries must follow. This statement made another questions come up into my mind: what are the rules? Are they existing before the bottled water? These two aspects questions developed my first research. For the first question, it is very easy to find answers. I looked up in dictionary and it explain that unable to develop a normal immune response usually because of malnutrition or
immunodeficiency or immunosuppressive therapy. The paper I found gave me a more comprehensive

explanation Individuals who are immunocompromised are less capable of battling infections because of an immune response that is not properly functioning. ( Ph.D Koo, Paragraph 1) and there are some direct examples after the definition. People who had genetic or acquired problem such as HIV or pregnant may have this defect. But after reading this, I still do not understand why they have to choose a specific kind of water. Thus, I tried to find paper

related to this question. Then, I found that the main reason is related to cryptosporidium. I could guess it is a kind of creature that water always contain and the dictionary proved my thought. The paper I found provide a fact that this creature could cause waterborne disease in both United States and United Kingdom. Now I can make a conclusion that this disease is extra dangerous for the people who are immunocompromised. The passage explained that the water we used daily is mostly form "well water,"spring water," or "mineral water" and it does not mean they dont contain cryptosporidium. On the contrary, bottled water that comes from protected wells or protected springs is less likely to contain Crypto than water from less protected sources, such as rivers and lakes. In the passage, they provide a list of treating water that can be effectively against Crypto: Distilled Filtered through an absolute 1 micron or smaller filter "One micron absolute" My first series of question is ended here and it seems there is no more questions can be raised here. For my second questions on the second paragraph, I choose to search question that Isn't bottled water safer than tap water? instead finding the actual FDAs bottled water rule. And from Natural Resources Defense Council, I found a statement that A conclusion is formed that there is no assurance that just because water comes out of a bottle it is any cleaner or safer than water from the tap. (Bottled Water, paragraph 2) Actually, it is surprise for me just because this statement is completely opposite with the result I found above. Then I notice the detail that the list I found said treating and sometimes the bottled water industry just

labeled their water had so-called treatment. At the end of this passage, it reveals that 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle, though sometimes further treated, sometimes not. These information made me more curious about FDAs rules do I keep searching the question that how is bottled water regulated? and I found an essay from Dukes Department of Chemistry. I just realize the history of bottled water and FDAs rules Bottled water was not always standardized. That is, water bottling companies had the liberty to label their bottled water any way they pleased. This all changed in 1996 when the FDA set standards that all bottled water companies were required to follow. (Tap vs. Bottled Water, paragraph 7) the rules are included in my prezi, but the main idea is that the water industry have to clearly labeled as what they did treat the water. Now I know that some bottled water industries just lie to consumers. After this, I want to know that what are attitudes from consumers and I find a graph of United States bottled consumptions which is in my prezi, The broken line in that graph obviously represents that Bottled water sales have been increasing strongly for over a decade with a slight dip during the recent recession. However the article did not answer my questions clearly, it only said "The adoption of a health preventive action like drinking bottled water is suggested to be influenced by perception of risk associated with drinking water." (Morton, Paragraph 1). Also, the graph made me wonder why the consumption is going up again after a 2-year decay. However, I cannot find a clear answer to that.