PatriotsReign

Are you frikkn' kidding me?!! Seriously, can any society REALLY state something THAT stupid?

Oh wait...the European Union almost banned "overly curved" banana's and cucumbers a while back until international ridicule put an end to that one.

I'll be happy when the EU collapses. They're too much like the United Nations in my opinion.

"Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month."

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration - Telegraph

So....if water can't prevent dehydration, what can?

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

Dehydration stems from many conditions - and drinking water isn't going to fix many of them.

I understand your point - but I also agree with the final sentence in your cited article:

“This claim is trying to imply that there is something special about bottled water which is not a reasonable claim.”

It's a pet peeve of mine when manufactured products make implied statements such as this. Truth is - plain old tap water, or any liquid for that matter, would work as well at hydration as bottled water.

It's also misleading in that, to someone stupid or someone who could not afford a doctor's care, they are mislead to believe that, if they are dehydrated for any reason, drinking water will cure it. It will not. Unless you remove the underlying condition the best it might do is keep you at your current level of dehydration. If you're puking, or you have diarrhea, if your blood sugar is wacked, if you're running a high fever - drinking water is not going to make any of those things go away. In fact, in the case of the first two - it's only going to make you puke and poop more - and you will puke and poop more than you took in - making the dehydration worse, not better.

It's also a dangerous claim insofar as infants are concerned. I've seen two babies die due to an overload of water. Infant electrolytes are very finely balanced - give them too much water, give them nothing but water, and they rapidly develop a condition called hyponatremia - and they die.

It might be a stupid law - but it is based in fact - and it may prevent deaths.

So, really, how stupid can it be?

PatriotsReign

I think one would have to be a total idiot to believe water is the answer to dehydration when you are sick. If you're sick, you go to the doctor.

I understand your points and agree to some extent on a couple, but c'mon MrsP, this was/is a totally idiotic law. Sure tap water does what bottled wather does....but you have to put tap water into a bottle if you're on the move.

Stating that water or bottled water can "prevent" dehydration is absolutely true for those able to read it.

Otherwise, why would gov't agencies in the US always suggest "...drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration during this heat wave"?

Maybe you don't agree, but to me, this is absolutely insane and as-sanine. Just like the proposal to ban "overly curved" cucumbers and banana's was.

Can anyone think of a possible reason to ban "overly-curved" banana's or cucumbers?

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

Harry Boy

The EU must be loaded with left wing whack job LOONS.

Left Wing Loons love to aggitate the people, it's what they do, it turns them on, also, common sense and mother nature are two of their biggest enemies, they don't know how to handle these things.

Example:
A logger cuts a tree down, the Loon is ready for all out war, kill all the loggers.

God sends down a bolt of lightning and starts a forest fire that destroys 5 million trees, the Loon has to be sedated, how do they fight God?

Mother Nature made that curved Banana thats probaly what got the f-cking ass holes all worked up.

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

PatriotsReign

Harry, I'll say it for you....

The European Union sucks...just ask their citizens!

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

sdaniels7114

What is their position in the pizza is a vegetable debate?

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Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank, give a man a bank and he can rob everyone.

Patters

My reaction on reading this is that it's so absurd, the reports must be inaccurate. On additional investigation, I saw it's being played up by the usual right-wing blogs, and let's face it they lie and distort all the time. I would urge people to do a little more due diligence before falling for such crap. But, as Mencken said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public," a lesson well learned by the right wing media. The joke's on those of you who took this story on face value.

This was a technical ruling to offer advice as to some specific language, not a law or regulation. It seems to be based on the reality that dehydrated people may need more than water and that dehydration may be a more complex symptom than someone not drinking enough water.

Daft hysteria over the EU's ruling on water and dehydration | by Martin Robbins @mjrobbins | Science | guardian.co.uk

...

The Express finally admit this in the very last line of their hysteria, when they eventually allow an EU spokesperson to get a line in edgeways: "This is a specific case with specific characteristics. Either way the final decision is for member states."

...

The British Soft Drinks Association, who tweeted just as this piece was going live with the following statement: The European Food Safety Authority has been asked to rule on several ways of wording the statement that drinking water is good for hydration and therefore good for health. It rejected some wordings on technicalities, but it has supported claims that drinking water is good for normal physical and cognitive functions and normal thermoregulation.

PatriotsReign

I did read all the details as this is something my company deals with all the time. And it is still idiotic for any gov't to tell a water company they can't say "water prevents dehydration"

I say that because I guarantee you we'll hear gov't agencies telling the public "please drink plenty of water during the heat-wave to prevent dehydration"

Based upon the EU regulation, no one in their gov't can ever say that again.

Fact: water is one of THE basics to be healthy. It is essential if you're going to be out in the heat & sun to prevent dehydration. Anyone who thinks water is the answer for ALL forms of dehydration is just plain stupid...especially if one is sick.

So should we now make laws and regulations to protect only stupid people? c'mon patters...

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

No, of course not. We should let stupid people die and call it natural selection. In fact, we should actively encourage it.

Jesuschrist, PR, of course we make laws to protect "stupid people." People are inherently stupid.

IcyPatriot

People who use those as sex objects could get injured PR ...