BMJ  2004;329:1417-1418 (18 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1417

Editorial

Getting well from water

Bottled water exploits our worries about what affects health in the modern world

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Water is now everywhere. It has become a modern fashion and health accessory, as ubiquitous as the mobile phone. Students have a bottle in their bags or in front of them during lectures, people are jogging with water, and office workers have a bottle within easy reach of their desk. The rise of water as a health product is underpinned by people's worries about modern life. Bottled water is seen as a natural antidote to what the consumer sees wrong with modernity and bad for their health—chemicals and technologies full of risk and hazard, genetically engineered food, low level radiation, harmful medications, and sinister viruses.¹

Sales figures confirm that bottled water is the world's fastest selling drink. In the United Kingdom, consumers spent £1bn ($1.9bn; 1.4bn) on bottled water last year, a 70-fold increase from 20 years ago. In the United States, consumption of bottled water has risen from . . . [Full text of this article]

Health Psychology Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, New Zealand (kj.petrie@auckland.ac.nz)

Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Guy's, King's, and St Thomas' School of Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF (S.Wessely@iop.kcl.ac.uk)

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Bottled Up

Aviva Sheb'a, et al.
bmj.com, 18 Dec 2004 [Full text]

Inaccuracies

Robert W Leckridge
bmj.com, 22 Dec 2004 [Full text]

Getting Water From the Well?

Barry Savage
bmj.com, 1 Jan 2005 [Full text]

The true cost of bottled water

Tze Wai Wong
bmj.com, 7 Jan 2005 [Full text]

Bottled water has a positive role to play in shaping the health of the nation.

Ian M Hall
bmj.com, 14 Feb 2005 [Full text]