What I Learned on My Winter Vacation, or Is Water Good for You?
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I spent the last three weeks mainly in Europe, and mainly on a cruise, but unlike Newt Gingrich, I don't purport to have learned anything about Europe's debt crisis, although the Greek, Italian and Spanish governments did all fall the moment we left each country. What I did learn, or was reminded of, is that there is a very different way of thinking in Europe. Instead of blaring out instructions at the security line at the airport, there is just one discreet sign, and if you don't do it right you are admonished for not having read or comprehended the sign. To rebook our flights when we missed a connection due to fog, we were given the instruction to "Like" KLM on Facebook, without the further instruction to then post a message asking to be rebooked (that didn't work for me, by the way, after I finally figured it out).
So I read with some interest the various stories that have circulated around the Internet with titles like "EU Says Water is Not Healthy" and "Now barmy EU says you CAN'T claim drinking water stops dehydration." And this, of course, is to answer yesterday's pop quiz, which you'll recall asked if the following statement is true:
The regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration and of concomitant decrease of performance.
This was the question asked of a particular European Union agency with respect to a particular European Union law and the answer they gave was negative. Which of course set off a firestorm of laughter and ridicule, followed by a reverse firestorm of alleged common sense explanations for why the EU was right. With respect, pretty much everyone has exaggerated something here, intentionally or unintentionally.
For reference, here are the EU Scientific Opinion and the EU regulation implementing the scientific opinion. I'm afraid they're not quite Shakespeare or even Stephen King.
First, let's parse the words a bit. The claim relates to "water" not "bottled water" or some particular brand of bottled water. The claim also states that "regular consumption" of water "can reduce" the development of dehydration, not that it is necessary for it, or that other beverages or water ingested in other ways are or are not another way to achieve it.
Now, let's affirm what the EU has done and not done. It has stated that in connection with a claim for foods within the EU, this claim is not authorized (20 days after publication in the official journal of the EU). It expressly states that it is "binding and directly applicable in all member states." Thus, the EU official who stated, as quoted in The Express as saying, "Either way the final decision is for member states", was saying something directly contradicted by the regulation's own words. A British bottled water seller has vowed to defy the ban and British health officials have not ruled out taking action against it.
Clearly, the EU has also not said water isn't good for you, or that it's bad for you, or anything of that sort. And there is some question as to whether the law the application was sent in under was the right one; is "dehydration" a disease or a condition, for instance? Yet even the most cogent defense of the ruling I've read, by a professor of nutritiion at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, takes liberties with the facts. I'm no nutritionist, and I'll accept that someone can live a perfectly healthy life without ever once ingesting water in its pure form (the comments on most of these articles include at least one person who suggests that beer is a fine substitute). I also accept that pure water alone may not solve all cases of dehydration. But the claim is not that drinking water as such is necessary, or that it is sufficient, but that it is useful. So when the professor, in defending the EU ruling, said, "Also, it could be used to imply that there is something special about bottled water which is not the case," he's simply wrong. If I say that Drug X may lower your cholesterol that doesn't imply that there is something about Drug X that is special compared to Drug Y which may also lower your cholesterol. The same is true of water.
Here's a Pop Quiz
You can't Google this and you can't refer to anything but your own common sense:
Is the following statement true or false?
The regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration and of concomitant decrease of performance.
I'll be back with the "answer" tomorrow.
Green Chemistry Is Back
The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released new informal draft regulations whose stated purpose is: "to make safer consumer products ....widespread in California...[and].... provide more protection against toxic chemicals in products on store shelves, while creating market opportunities for industry."
The draft released on October 31, 2011, creates regulations identifying consumer products that contain toxic chemicals. The DTSC claims it will use a science-based process that requires the identification of toxic ingredients and the analysis of alternatives to that ingredient. Based on the results of the analysis, removal of the toxic ingredient and/or posting product information may take place.
The DTSC’s draft regulations encompassed the following:
1) The regulations establish a list of Chemicals of Concern (~3,000) based on the work already done by other authoritative organizations. The rules also allow DTSC to identify additional chemicals as Chemicals of Concern.
2) The regulations require DTSC to develop a list of “Priority Products” that contain Chemicals of Concern for which an alternative assessment must be conducted.
3) The regulations require responsible entities (manufacturers, importers, and retailers) to notify DTSC when their product is listed as a Priority Product. DTSC will post this information on its website. Manufacturers (or other responsible entities) for a product listed as a Priority Product must perform an alternatives assessment (AA) for the product and the Chemicals of Concern in the product to determine how to limit potential exposures or the level of potential adverse public health and environmental impacts posed by the Chemical of Concern in the product.
4) The regulations require DTSC to identify and impose regulatory responses to effectively limit potential adverse public health and/or environmental impacts posed by the Priority Product/Chemical of Concern (if the manufacturer decides to retain the Priority Product), or the potential adverse impacts posed by the alternative chemical/product selected to replace the Priority Product.
A prior proposed set of regulations were introduced in 2010, but additional time was required to refine the concepts. The version released in October greatly shortens timeframes, immediately establishes a list of chemicals of concern, and is intended to stimulate a change in the way products are created by incorporating impacts to health and the environment into the design phase. The regulations will be discussed by DTSC’s Green Ribbon Science Panel on November 14-15 in Sacramento.
