NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 6, 2003: Popular brands of bottled water sold in India contain pesticide residues that can cause cancer or disorders of the nervous system, a study has found. Seventeen brands in and around New Delhi were taken for testing by the city’s non-government Center for Science and Environment (CSE). Using methods approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for pesticide detection in drinking water, CSE found that all except one contained residues of chemicals such as lindane, DDT, chlorpyrifos and malathion. Many of these chemicals are banned in several countries, including India. Only Evian, imported from France, was clean. These popular brands exceed safety limits set by the EU by more than 100 times. According to the CSE report, the source of the pesticide residues is the polluted groundwater used to manufacture the bottled water. It said the water treatment processes used by the manufacturers are either ineffective or only a part of the raw water is processed. India’s bottled water industry, worth US$209,511,800 and growing at 40 per cent a year, insists that it meets the quality norms set by India’s Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for drinking water. The federal government has ordered a high-level probe into the report and wants the investigating body to report its findings in three weeks.
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