Promotion of bottled water is all wet

Re Trustee in hot water for business promotion,

Oct. 2 Quite rightly, the Toronto District School Board has chastised trustee Tiffany Ford for promoting her Smarty Pants bottled water company in a news release last Tuesday. Using her elected position as trustee to enhance her own business ventures is about as clear an example of a “conflict of interest” scenario as you can get.

But even more disturbing is the product Ms. Ford is promoting: bottled water. Do we have to again review the energy and costs that go into the making of the plastic bottle containing the so-called “natural spring water?” Or the problems of recycling and/or disposal that plastic containers always pose for the environment?

And what’s wrong with tap water? Does the “fun fact” printed on the plastic bottle make the Smarty Pants product a healthier, wiser choice for the child spending money on it than the school’s drinking fountain, which offers the same thing for free?

Schools (every place for that matter) should be teaching about water and water consumption as a basic human right . . . not as a commodity to be collected, packaged, promoted and sold to those who still think that bottled water is the better choice.

Many institutions have already given the boot to bottled water over the past few years. That’s why it’s so disheartening to see a school trustee (of all professions!) trying to give new life to this battle-weary issue. Tom McCarthy, Mississauga

I think what is most disturbing about Trustee Ford’s situation is that she is encouraging schoolchildren to drink more water out of plastic water bottles. Why not direct them to the water fountains to drink up, get hydrated and not produce any waste? Cindy Cohanim, Toronto

In hindsight, Tiffany Ford said, she probably should not have become a trustee. At least on this point she is surely in tune with the thoughts of those who elected her. David Ottenbrite, Mississauga