Re: ‘Internet research doesn’t cut it to properly gauge NestlĂ©’s bottled water operations,’ Feb. 13 Gazette:
Thank you, John Challinor II, director of corporate affairs, Nestlé Waters Canada, for responding to the letter I wrote last week and for showing interest in what I have to say.
First off, skirting the arising issues and delegitimizing the facts that I have presented is completely in line with the violations that we are denouncing. You can write off the facts in any way you want, but your techniques are insoluble with the live testimonies that we have received from community leaders and farmers alike.
Development and Peace is an organization with a history of more than 40 years, founded by the Council of Canadian Bishops, and currently working with partners in more than 70 countries. Recorded testimonies from the rural community of Sukabumi, Indonesia, such as that of Abah Uyeh, 75, is that since the 1990s bottle water companies have been buying more and more of their land that contains natural spring water. For generations the whole community has had access to free water, but now the water has been fenced off and has military personnel watching the property 24/7.
NestlĂ©’s complicit involvement in this is that you are one of the 15 water companies that have invested in making this happen as a joint venture for the water bottling industry. Mr. Challinor, do you deny this? This is not an Internet-based accusation.
Development and Peace will continue to speak out on behalf of our partners and we will continue to choose life over profit. And so, as a responsible global citizen, the next time you see a NestlĂ© bottle of water that says natural spring water, think twice and please don’t buy it.
The belief that we should abstain from buying bottled water is a radical notion, but we recognize that when moving towards progressive change: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win.
For more information, please visit: www.devp.org/devpme/eng/education/resources-eng.html.
Julio C. Garcia, Development and Peace National Anglophone Youth Rep
