SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
At least 25 people in two states were likely poisoned by toxic batches of the "Re2al ," including five children who suffered acute liver failure and one person who died.
The toxic water made headlines earlier this year when health investigators initially linked alkalized water sold by Nevada-based water company Real Water to severe illnesses in five children in Clark County, Nevada. But the new report from the CDC offers the most complete look at the identified cases and illnesses.
The saga began in November and December of 2020, when the five children—ranging in age from seven months to five years—became severely ill with acute liver failure after drinking the water. They were hospitalized and later transferred to a children's hospital for a potential liver transplant—though they all subsequently recovered without a transplant. Local health officials investigating the unusual cluster found that family members had also been sickened. The only common link between the cases was the alkalized water, which Real Water claimed was a healthier alternative to tap water.
In mid-March, the Food and Drug Administration contacted Real Water about the cases and urged the company to recall their water, which was sold in multiple states, including Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona. Real Water agreed to issue the recall. However, by the end of the month, the FDA reported that retailers were still selling the potentially dangerous water, and the regulator tried to warn consumers directly. By then, Nevada health officials had linked the water to six additional cases, including three more children, bringing the total to 11.
Now, according to the new report, the tally has increased to 25: 18 probable cases and four suspected cases in Nevada, as well as three probable cases in California.
All 21 probable cases ended up hospitalized, and 18 required intensive care. One woman in her 60s with underlying medical conditions died of complications from her liver inflammation.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wisnoskij on Sunday November 21 2021, @06:55PM (1 child)
I am also wondering about this. Is water not considered a "food" or something and so subject to less regulation?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by VLM on Monday November 22 2021, @02:59PM
One of my classmates in chemistry ended up doing tap water chemistry (not in Flint, LOL) so we've shot the breeze on this topic.
In his opinion its a tragedy that the EPA regulates your tapwater (his job) and the FDA regulates bottled water, even though 99% of bottled water is just tap water in a bottle. It would seem logical that standards for contamination are ... standard, across bottles or faucets.
Also there's a "state line" argument where water bottled and sold in the same state does not get federal oversight because presumably the tapwater in my kitchen already gets municipal and state oversight, and the feds are more in the business of national homogenization in case, for example, Utahs state tapwater laws don't mesh well with NYCs muni tapwater regulations when sold as bottled water in NYC. Although in practice nobody would bottle water in Utah and send it to NYC; I think.
Apparently if you put "water" in the label on the bottle its regulated as bottled water so the FDA got weird as hell about "Vitamin water" type products a couple years ago, but they don't care what kind of shit they put in energy drinks as long as they're not marketed as "water". So they could get out of a lot of regulation by changing the label to "Alkaline energy drink" instead of "alkaline water"
Another story he tells is the situation with total dissolved solids aka water hardness, is fairly Dilbertian. So in some "deep well" parts of the country the tap water can only be sold as "mineral water" because too much hardness.
Not entirely sure how much of the above is his after work ramblings vs practical reality.