EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration
Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.

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.

Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.

“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”

NHS health guidelines state clearly that drinking water helps avoid dehydration, and that Britons should drink at least 1.2 litres per day.

The Department for Health disputed the wisdom of the new law. A spokesman said: “Of course water hydrates. While we support the EU in preventing false claims about products, we need to exercise common sense as far as possible."

German professors Dr Andreas Hahn and Dr Moritz Hagenmeyer, who advise food manufacturers on how to advertise their products, asked the European Commission if the claim could be made on labels.

They compiled what they assumed was an uncontroversial statement in order to test new laws which allow products to claim they can reduce the risk of disease, subject to EU approval.

They applied for the right to state that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration” as well as preventing a decrease in performance.

However, last February, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) refused to approve the statement.

A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.

Now the EFSA verdict has been turned into an EU directive which was issued on Wednesday.

just go with Beer, it's mostly water anyways.

Their claim actually plays on the fear of the uneducated and thus inappropriate on a food label. Most countries with regulated food or drugs have similar rules, it’s not a biggie.

They could easily get away with what they want to portray by saying something along the lines of, “Water aids in the process of re-hydration.”

By claiming against dehydration (a condition); they essentially pushed the product into a drug category, instead of food.

Let...nay, encourage the stupid to die.

Sadly, DE, every time I believe we have reached the epitome of stupidity, god creates a bigger one just to surprise me.

While this may be sematic nitpicking, it comes from a history of people, striving to join the Darwin awards, which fail and then sue. Remember my story about a woman trying to swallow a pessary?

Add onto that a woman who tried to complain and sue a company because she left the cap off a child resistant bottle of medicine, and claim the child resistance was not sufficient.

Every time my company wants to come up with a new product/campaign/label, the first question we ask ourselves is “Whats the worst thing a person could use this for”. Sadly, the majority of the time, we come up short of reality.

http://www.dhmo.org/