Article response and critical analysis

Bottled Water

America is the hub of consumerism. It is the country that supports free enterprise and capitalism. While the proponents of this economic system might give us thousands of reasons why capitalism is good, they can never convince you that the same system is not robbing our people of their basic rights. On the surface, everything might appear fine. But it is only when we carefully study the entire system and how it affects us that we realize that consumerism is making our lives difficult and stealing our many basic rights.

In every country, it is the responsibility of the state to provide its people with clean water and fresh air free of cost. But it is only in the United States that providing clean water has become the responsibility of large enterprises. These firms are making tap water appear less clean by bragging about the purity of bottled water. However what we fail to realize is that this is a deep propaganda to force the government to privatize water supply. In a country that calls itself champion of civil rights, we are being forced to pay for clean water which many believe is not so clean either.

There are some important issues connected with bottled water which are highlighted by the author in his article "Pandora's Bottle" and also by some other reports on the subject. For one, bottled water is not as clean as it is advertised to be. Secondly, this is seen as just a campaign to privatize water supply in the country. And finally, due to consumerism, we are being robbed of our very basic rights.

The author of "Pandora's Bottle" claims that American believe that "bottle is a healthy choice, even though the Environmental Protection Agency does a better job of monitoring what comes from home taps than the Food and Drug Administration does tracking water sold at the grocery store." This means that while many believe that bottled water is the cleaner and safer choice, it is not as healthy for the environment as advertisers would have us believe. This claim is further supported by independent reports as the one by Arnold and Larsen (2006). The report identifies the reasons why bottled water is seriously damaging the environment saying: "The most commonly used plastic for making water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is derived from crude oil...After the water has been consumed, the plastic bottle must be disposed of. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86% of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter."

Another important point raised by some reports is that tap water is just as clean as bottled water but we let advertisers to make us believe otherwise. According to a blind test results, tap water was found to be as natural and fresh as any bottled water but it was when labeled were placed that people preferred bottled over plain tap water. The report concluded that: "...if you buy bottled water because you think it's healthier than tap, test after test shows no evidence of that. And if you buy fancy brands because you think they taste better, you're probably just buying the hype." (Stossel, 2005)