There is some more confusion that has been added to the already confused state of affairs in the bottled water controversy. The impression given yesterday was that Minister of Consumer Affairs Sharad Yadav had cracked down on the bottled water manufacturers by withdrawing ISI mark from 8 units, including Bisleri and Pepsico’s Aquafina. The fact is that the action was taken as a matter of routine by the BIS before the Centre of Science and Environment released its report that bottled water contained 20 deadly pesticides in 18 brands they had tested. Yadav’s office clarified: ‘‘The Minister had asked the BIS to take action nation-wide.’’On the other hand, the BIS feigns ignorance saying that they had only given a list to the minister of the units sealed by them in the past that were not complying with their norms.Pepsi also clarified in a written statement: ‘‘Our Bharuch plant has not yet commenced commercial production of bottled water. We have been asked to stop using the ISI mark temporarily, until explanation is produced to explain why production was conducted before the issue of BIS certification.’’ In the Lok Sabha, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Sushma Swaraj ruled out action against companies marketing bottled drinking water saying they were meeting the standards and the method prescribed by the BIS. ‘‘The water meets the method and the standard of the BIS and, therefore, there is no question of taking action,’’ she said, responding to a calling attention motion.The minister’s reply prompted Puglia to charge her with misleading the House as he sought to know why the licenses of eight plants bottling the water had been cancelled. She said the action had been taken by the Food and Consumer Affairs ministry.The minister also said there was no question of any ‘‘poison’’ being present in packaged water. She said samples of packaged drinking water and mineral water analysed as per the BIS method were found to comply with the requirement. ‘‘In the study by the CSE, pesticide residues were found in water because of use of more sensitive testing methodology’’. She announced that stringent standards are proposed to be enforced from April 1. A draft notification prepared for this purpose has been circulated for public comments before carrying out any amendments in the Prevention of Food Adulteration rules.
