Releases

Vermont Brewers’ Festival and Food & Water Watch Partner to Go Bottled Water-Free

2009-07-14

Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization, and the Vermont Brewers’ Festival, an event that draws a crowd of over 10,000 from around the U.S. and Canada, are partnering this weekend to go bottled water-free and serve local Vermont tap water. The consumer group advocates drinking tap water as part of its national Take Back the Tap campaign, which opposes bottled water for economic, health and environmental reasons. The event will take place at Burlington Waterfront Park in Burlington, VT, beginning at 6pm on Friday, July 17th and running through 10pm on Saturday, July 18th.

Trenton Judge Flip-Flops on Water Utility Sale

2009-07-14

Press Release: Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ruled against a public referendum pushed by local citizens to decide the fate of an embattled water utility in Trenton, New Jersey. This latest development comes just two months after Feinberg agreed to reassess an earlier decision to allow the sale of a portion of Trenton’s water utility to the private company American Water.

Food & Water Watch Launches “Healthy School Milk or Bust” Tour Across the Midwest

2009-07-10

Press Release: Today, Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group, kicked off its “Healthy School Milk or Bust” tour and hit the road to secure healthy milk for schoolchildren. Traveling in a cow-themed van from July 10th – July 20th, Food & Water Watch will be visiting county fairs, farmers’ markets and senators’ offices in six states to gear up for this year’s re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act – a bill that is designed to help meet the nutritional needs of children through the National School Lunch Program and other feeding programs.

Food & Water Watch Disputes Obama Administration’s Reliance on Trade, Biotechnology to Combat Global Hunger and Poverty

2009-07-10

Press Statement: Today, the Obama administration announced a new approach to combating global hunger and poverty that merely dusts off the tired, failed approaches of the Bush years – more free trade and the adoption of biotechnology (suggested by the “access to better seeds” language in the G8 Joint Statement on global food security). Renewed focus and funding for programs that energize rural communities around the world and alleviate hunger are desperately needed, but the plan announced today cannot achieve these goals. A bold, new approach is needed. More free trade and biotechnology are not new ideas – they are the darling twins of the agribusiness industry.

Food & Water Watch Exposes Kona Blue’s Claims of Sustainability

2009-07-09

Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group, today released a paper that rebutts the recent claims by Kona Blue Water Farms that the fish it raises are more sustainable than wild fish. The consumer group’s paper enumerates the problems with the Hawaii-based aquaculture operation’s methods and debunks the claims that its Kona Kampachi fish are sixty times as “efficient” as wild fish.

GAO Report Reveals Need for Increased FDA Oversight of Bottled Water

2009-07-09

Press Statement: Today, the United States Government Accountability Office released a report to the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Energy and Commerce on the quality and safety of bottled water. Entitled Bottled Water: FDA Safety and Consumer Protections are Often Less Stringent Than Comparable EPA Protections for Tap Water, the report confirms what many in the consumer advocacy community have long known—that the bottled water industry is not subject to the same rigorous standards for testing their product and disclosing the results of that testing to the public that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is for tap water.

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Michigan Citizens Score Victory in Bottled Water Battle Against Nestlé

2009-07-08

Press Statement: Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation went to court on Monday, July 6 and prevented Nestlé Waters North America from pumping even more water from an already depleted stream in Mecosta County to bottle for its Ice Mountain brand bottled water.

BP Records Show One of World’s Largest Oil and Gas Platforms Lacks Documents Needed for Safe Operation and Maintenance

2009-07-08

Press Release: Today, Food & Water Watch urged the U.S. Department of the Interior and Minerals Management Service (MMS) to immediately suspend production on the largest moored floating dual oil- and gas-production facility in the world pending further investigation of documents critical to the project’s safe operation and maintenance. Although the British Petroleum Atlantis Oil and Gas production platform (BP Atlantis) has been operating for more than a year and a half in Gulf of Mexico waters, Food & Water Watch is concerned with the lack of a large percentage of engineer-approved and up-to-date documents for its subsea equipment.

White House Delivers Mixed Bag on Food Safety

2009-07-07

Press Statement: Today’s announcement of key findings by the Obama Administration’s Food Safety Working Group brings long overdue improvements to some existing policies and charges federal agencies with new programs that must be developed extremely carefully to avoid doing more harm than good.

Food & Water Watch and Eco-Chef Launch New Sustainable Food Initiative, the Edible EcoUnderground

2009-07-06

Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization, today launched the Edible EcoUnderground, an initiative featuring Food & Water Watch Executive Chef Joseph “Rocky” Barnette. The Edible EcoUnderground is an innovative new venture that aims to get everyday people more involved with the purchasing, preparation and enjoyment of their food, and to help consumers get the information they need to make healthy, sustainable eating choices.

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Financing for Clean Water Trust Fund Must Come From Taxes on Non-Discretionary Water-Based Bottled Beverages

2009-06-30

Press Statement: This week, the United States Government Accountability Office issued a report to Congress outlining options for generating the $10 billion in annual revenue needed to establish a Clean Water Trust Fund to upgrade our nation’s aging water infrastructure system. The report, entitled Clean Water Infrastructure: A Variety of Issues Need to Be Considered When Designing a Clean Water Trust Fund highlights a number of sources for Congress to consider, including taxes on bottled beverages, fertilizers, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and water appliances. Food & Water Watch recognizes the need to draw from diverse funding sources to finance this critical undertaking. It is our suggestion however, that any funding package that Congress arrives at must include an excise tax on water-based bottled beverages.

U.S. House of Representatives Approves Water Infrastructure Funding, Food & Water Watch Urges Senate to Follow Suit

2009-06-29

Press Statement: “Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Environmental Protection Agency appropriation, which allocates $3.9 billion to help over 1,500 communities improve their drinking water and wastewater systems. This legislation includes $2.3 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to ensure that our nation’s water meets the goals of the Clean Water Act; $1.4 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to protect public health by improving drinking water systems; and $160 million for direct grants to communities for water infrastructure. Food & Water Watch applauds the House for voting to improve our country’s ailing water infrastructure system, and urges the Senate to also pass this vital piece of legislation.

JBS Swift Beef Recall Exposes Critical Gaps in USDA E. Coli Policy

2009-06-29

Press Statement: "The weaknesses in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) policy on E. coli are becoming very clear, thanks to the latest recall of beef for E. coli 0157:H7. This weekend’s announcement that the recall of beef products from a JBS Swift Beef Company plant in Greeley, Colorado had been expanded is just the latest illustration of why USDA’s policies must be strengthened."

Despite Rising Consumer Demand for Healthy Meat Products, Small Slaughterhouses Continue to Decline

2009-06-24

Press Release: A new report issued today by Food & Water Watch examines how the slow demise of local small slaughter and processing operations in the U.S. is preventing farmers and ranchers from fully satisfying rising consumer demand for meat from sustainably raised livestock.

New Survey: Fishermen Oppose Controversial Management Plan

2009-06-22

Press Release: Today, Food & Water Watch released the results of a re-referendum on a controversial fishery management plan in the Gulf of Mexico. Designed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the plan is known as an Individual Fishing Quota, or IFQ, and aims to manage the grouper and tilefish fisheries of the Gulf by dividing the amount of fish caught among fishermen, based on the amount they have caught in the past—essentially privatizing the resource. The re-referendum sent questionnaires to reef fish permitholders who were excluded from the earlier vote on the plan. One hundred seventy-two fishermen responded to the questionnaire. An overwhelming majority—nearly 90 percent—would not have approved the plan had they been included in the initial vote.

Food & Water Watch Applauds Effort to Close Loopholes in Great Lakes Compact

2009-06-19

Press Statement: "This week, Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI-1) introduced H. Res. 551 addressing loopholes in the Great Lakes Compact that allow for the commercial extraction of water from the lakes as long as it is placed in containers 5.7 gallons or smaller. Food & Water Watch commends Representative Stupak for this effort to prevent the commercialization of this vital natural resource and urges Congress to adopt this resolution.

Food & Water Watch Lauds House Appropriations Committee for Approving Water Infrastructure Funding, Urges Congress to Adopt Clean Water Trust Fund

2009-06-19

Press Statement: “This week, the United States House of Representatives Appropriations Committee passed the Environmental Protection Agency appropriation, which allocates $3.9 billion to help over 1500 communities improve their drinking water and wastewater systems. This legislation includes $2.3 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to ensure that our nation’s waters meet the goals of the Clean Water Act; $1.4 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to protect public health by improving drinking water systems; and $160 million for direct grants to communities for water infrastructure. Food & Water Watch applauds the Appropriations Committee and urges Congress to pass this important piece of legislation.

Consumer Safety on Track as Ban on Chinese Chicken Kept Intact

2009-06-19

Press Statement: “Food & Water Watch applauds the House Appropriations Committee for protecting consumers’ health by maintaining a ban on imported processed poultry products from China. Despite pressure from agribusiness to end the prohibition in the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget, the committee maintained the ban on poultry products from a country with weak food safety protections."