Striving4Zen

Leading brands of bottled water in the United States contain many of the same contaminants as tap water, according to a study released Wednesday by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group.

The 10 brands of bottled water included in the two-year study were found to contain 38 impurities, including bacteria, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals, the radioactive element strontium and the pain reliever acetaminophen, the Associated Press reported.

"In some cases, it appears bottled water is no less polluted than tap water and, at 1,900 times the cost, consumers should expect better," said study co-author and environmental engineer Jane Houlihan.

While all the bottled water brands met federal health standards for drinking water, two of them violated a California state standard for chlorine. Those two brands were Sam's Choice sold by Wal-Mart and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets.

These "alarmist" findings are based on the faulty premise that a contaminant is a health concern "even if it does not exceed the established regulatory limit or no standard has been set," Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association, told the AP.

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Labels: bottled or tap, bottled water, chlorine, study, tap water