Nestlé CEO Says Water Is Food That Should Be Privatized – Not A Human Right

Do you believe water is a basic human right? According to Nestlé CEO water is a foodstuff that should be privatized, not a human right. Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck says that with the global population rising water is not a public right, but a resource that should be managed by businessmen. Please do share your thoughts.

Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/nestle-...-that-should-be-privatized-not-a-human-right/

[video=youtube;nTqvBhFVdvE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nTqvBhFVdvE[/video]


It will be air next.

 

Well I already pay for my water so I guess he is thinking that if you are dying of thirst and need some water you cannot go to a pub and ask for it and receive it as a right free - something which some centuries ago was written down as law. All alehouses had to provide free water when requested. You cannot charge for water as a 'foodstuff' because it is a basic need.

I loved how he said that thinking water was a human right was an extreme viewpoint.

 

In the very near future desalinating ocean water will be almost free. He can privatize anything he likes so long as he doesnt stake a claim on the pacific ocean. All of those assets will be worthless within a decade.

 

The danger of calling water a foodstuff is that in a nation with limited and declining water resources (i:e, Peru, with its vanishing glacial melt water) an oligopoly or monopoly will have the power to really jack up the price (you can't do without water).

 

I know.

An insight into how their minds work, if ever there was one.

I am pretty sure that Nestle have something of a dubious record too.

 

Let's be honest, major corporations have grown too fast, too far, too much. Take away all the bells and whistles, and it strikes me that they are little more than tarted up exploitation rackets, not much different from those from the past.

**

Nestle 'failing' on child labour abuse, says FLA report

The food company Nestle has been accused of failing to carry out checks on child labour and other abuses in part of its cocoa supply chain.

A report by an independent auditor, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), says it found "multiple serious violations" of the company's own supplier code.

The code includes clauses on child labour, safety and working hours.

Cocoa is the raw product that makes chocolate in a global industry worth more than $90bn (£58bn) a year.

Earlier reports found that 1.8 million children in West Africa are at risk of abuse through dangerous child labour.

After increasing pressure, Nestle, which is the world's biggest food company, commissioned the FLA to map its cocoa supply chain in the Ivory Coast from where almost half the world's cocoa comes.

Rampant injuries

FLA investigators tracked the journey of cocoa from the poorest and most remote villages to the exporters that sold directly to Nestle.

They found that while Nestle insisted their primary suppliers - mostly big multi-nationals - agree to their code, it often went no further, despite Nestle knowing the supply chain involved many other stages.

"Now that its supply chain has been mapped," says FLA President Auret van Heerden, "Nestle will be held accountable.

"For too long child labour in cocoa production has been everybody's problem and therefore nobody's responsibility.

"Nestle is taking direct responsibility for decreasing the risks."

The report also found rampant injuries, mainly with machetes that slice into the children's legs as they harvest the cocoa pods, as well as both adults and children working long hours without pay.

There has been evidence of child labour on the Ivory Coast cocoa farms for many years.

In 2001, under pressure from the US congress, Nestle and other major chocolate companies signed an agreement to end the problem - but little was achieved.

'Top priority'

The FLA says this is the first time a multi-national chocolate producer has allowed its procurement system to be completely traced and assessed.

It believes the flaws it uncovered apply to all the big chocolate companies.

They say they are studying the findings.

Nestle has now laid out a detailed plan to try to solve the problem.

"The use of child labour in our cocoa supply chain goes against everything we stand for," says Nestle's Executive Vice-President for Operations Jose Lopez.

"No company sourcing cocoa from the Ivory Coast can guarantee that it doesn't happen, but we can say that tackling child labour is a top priority for our company."

For more than 10 years, Ivory Coast has suffered civil war and unrest, much of which activists blame on the fight between rival groups for the tens of millions of dollars earned from cocoa.

The new government that came to power last year has introduced initiatives against child labour and exploitation.

Nestle and the FLA say that if the problem is to be totally eradicated the role of government will be critical.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18644870

 

That is really true for coco products production in general - certainly up to a year or two ago. The only way you can stop this exploitation is by resisting your urge for chocolate and only buying Fair Trade.

 

That's fine then, as I don't eat chocolate, well, almost never.

In practice though, we appear to be functioning under some sort of informal global Gov, who are not in the political arena, cannot e voted in or out, and who tend to remain in the shadows somewhat - major corporations. I see the politicians, esp but not only in the US, as now being little more than their valet. Depressingly, some people either won't mind this, or worse, they will welcome it. Me? I find it depressing.

 

This is not making v good reading...

Poisoning The Well? Nestlé Accused Of Exploiting Water Supplies For Bottled Brands

A new documentary film takes food giant Nestlé to task for its water bottling practices. Critics say the multinational is busy extracting ground water for its bottled brands and leaving locals, often in poor corners of the world, with the dirty remains.

ZURICH - In the small Pakistani community of Bhati Dilwan, a former village councilor says children are being sickened by filthy water. Who's to blame? He says it's bottled water-maker Nestlé, which dug a deep well that is depriving locals of potable water. “The water is not only very dirty, but the water level sank from 100 to 300 to 400 feet,” Dilwan says.

The testimony is a key moment in the new documentary film “Bottled Life” by Swiss filmmaker Urs Schnell and journalist Res Gehriger. The film opens in Swiss theaters on Jan. 26. The village councilor interviewed in the film says Nestlé refused the village’s request for clean water to be piped in.

The notoriously bad drinking water in Pakistan and elsewhere is the reason for the success of the Pure Life brand. A good 10 years ago, the Swiss food company began adding minerals to ground water and bottling it. Today, Pure Life Purified Water Enhanced With Minerals is the largest water brand in the world – “a jewel in our portfolio,” according to John Harris, head of Nestlé Waters.

In view of the fact that every day more children die from drinking dirty water than AIDS, war, traffic accidents and malaria put together, Maude Barlow, a former UN chief advisor for water issues, states: “When a company like Nestlé comes along and says, Pure Life is the answer, we’re selling you your own ground water while nothing comes out of your faucets anymore or if it does it’s undrinkable – that’s more than irresponsible, that’s practically a criminal act.”

In response to questions put to it by Tages Anzeiger, Nestlé communicated in writing that it had built two water filtering facilities that were providing over 10,000 people in Pakistan’s Sheikhupura with clean drinking water. Construction of a further facility was planned for 2012. The company said they had also built two schools in Sheikhupura.

Nestlé is not the only company to create a huge business with big profit potential by bottling ground water -- Danone and Coca-Cola do it too. However, the way Nestlé goes about it, as depicted in the film, is in stark contrast to the image the company seeks to project. Nestlé likes to see itself as a global problem solver out not only for profits but to “create shared values.” In 2007, when Schnell and Gehriger began working on the movie, then Nestlé spokesman François-Xavier Perroud called it "the wrong film at the wrong time." Several times between 2007 and 2009 the company denined requests for interviews with company managers. It also refused to allow visits to bottling facilities.

The company’s present spokesperson, Melanie Kohli, told the Tages Anzeiger that Nestlé had reached the conclusion that the project would reflect a one-sided and unfair view of company activity and those who worked for Nestlé. “Consequently, we declined to work with the filmmakers. Our carefully considered decision was the right one at the time.”

Tracking the company's record, from Ethiopia to Nigeria

Undeterred, journalist Gehriger visited a refugee camp in Ethiopia where, in 2003, Nestlé had installed a water treatment facility for $750,000. Two years later, the company pulled out. Since then the facility has not been functioning properly, and water shortages have returned.

In Lagos, Nigeria, Gehriger discovered that families have to spend up to half their household budget on water in canisters, and that only those who can afford it drink Pure Life. Then there are the communities in the U.S. state of Maine who are fighting Nestlé because it pumps ground water and spring water in huge quantities – which it can do legally: whoever owns land can pump as much water as they like.

Nestlé pumps several million cubic meters annually and transports the water in tanker trucks to bottling plants. “They’re using our water to make profits, a litre doesn’t even cost them a cent,” one woman complains. “They’re selling the water we use to flush toilets and wash our hands as expensive spring water,” says another. But since Nestlé brings the communities tax dollars, officials welcome the company, which is supported by an armada of lawyers and PR people.


http://www.worldcrunch.com/poisonin...ng-water-supplies-for-bottled-brands/c2s4503/

 

We are no longer democracies. Thatcher ended that by aligning us to Financial Services and Blair finished it off. Open Democracy has a great article on it but I can't find it at the moment as google is so jammed with Thatcher's death.

Our Governments no longer can listen to the electorate. They go to the highest bidder and democracy is just a few tit-bits based on what the focus groups want in the key constituencies. The Neo Cons in the US led by Leo Strauss decided democracy was not a good thing and it is really at the moment not at all true that we are democracies.

The reality that we are dependent on the whim of Global Finances having destroyed our ability to manufacture our own goods is why I am so concerned about the future. I do not even rule out future generations of British being the new 'third worlders'.

Why do people do nothing? Sometimes they do not know. If they are like my daughter they hide under the bedclothes and say 'stop talking, you are terrifying me' and most times they just believe there is nothing they can do about it. Getting rid of the Unions got rid of political activism and without meeting and discussing, democracies as they say, get what they deserve and in this case that means they fail to be.

During Thatcherism, the problem was that Labour, or the left were unable to come up with a workable acceptable alternative. That is the situation we are still in. We need to get out of this system somehow and regain our democracy and economic independence.

 

Will we though, or will we just sit back expecting 'someone or something' to fix it?

With each passing year, we head more toward some sort of global plutocracy, we are almost at the station.

I am not seeing much in the way of mass resistance to this.

 

Well you need understanding first and understanding includes understanding why the North acted as they did last night

 

I understand why they did it, my point was that sometimes it is possible to take a thing into the realms of being somewhat distasteful, but we all have our measure of what that is, I guess.

 

water should not be privatized

 

I pay for my water every month . I disagree with this too , he is a nut job

 

Like it or not, the UN's primary human rights instrument, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), does not recognize or mention water as a human right.

 

It was distasteful from the very beginning. It took me to last night to understand what was going on and that took reading the paper I gave you the link to several times http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/history/Paper74/74offer.pdf

Those without a voice spoke last night. You did not hear them, suggesting that those who acted 'passionately' find a way to change things. Those who spoke last night to not have vision being those left behind. Any attempt to change things require including the whole of the population rather than seeing them as 'chavs'

again

http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/history/Paper74/74offer.pdf

 

Silly them. Water belongs to us all.

 

OMG - I've never been a choco-holic or picky abt Chocolate's - the all taste much the same . THanks to your post Jack, , I've now learnt more about Nestle - its dark
side' and how those in the know think about that company ;



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The World must know what Nestle is doing in my poor country - Brazil.read all


by User-367lv4on 13 Dec-reply-Helpful? -Flag

Nestle is stealing water from Lake Michigan to sell to China, the lake levels are falling faster


Why do I hate them? Nestle is a Swiss Company. They own many different bottled water companies in the US. One of those companies, Spring Valley Water, is in my ...read all

They use aborted FETAL CELLS/TISSUE in many of their products.read all

they put their profits before anything else. They refuse to listen to consumers around the world and change their practices. People die because of this evil company.read all


by Mandy Gon 08 Apr-reply-Helpful? -Flag


Life over profit
+1

the lives of babies the world over are more important than making money. Nestle used to be the top of my shopping list for everything from chocolate to cereal but ...read all


by Julie Ton 08 Apr-reply-Helpful? -Flag

Disgusting company
+3

Disgusting company contributing to yet more suffering and death in the third world, many other things like child slavery and down right underhand tactics. They are truly low.read all


by Anneke Ton 29 Feb-reply-Helpful? -Fla

The corruption of this company is unbelievable.
+3

The corruption of this company is unbelievable. And to still be promoting artificial feeding in developing nations, being the cause of the needless suffering and death of babies and children, ...read all


by Nicole Mon 29 Feb-reply-Helpful? -Fla

Nestlé - one of the most boycotted companies
+2

Aggressive marketing of baby foods in violations of international standards, contributing to the needless death and suffering of infants. Boycott Nestlé: http://www.babymilkaction.org/read all


by Mike Bon 29 Feb-reply-Helpful? -Fla

Nestle's corruption is unmistakable
+4

Corrupt company with no social conscience. Willing to do anything to make money regardless of the harm they may cause along the way. Just watch the movie "Tapped" to understand ...read all


by DwayneBon 08 Sep-reply-Helpful? -Flag

I worked for Nestle for almost 2 years, & it
+3

I worked for Nestle for almost 2 years, & it was absolutely the worse employer I have ever had. They care nothing about their employees, and the turnover is the ...read all


by User-445wn2on 10 Apr-2 replies-reply-Helpful? -Flag



Access all links from here :


All Nestle's top executives are just making money
+4

All Nestle's top executives are just making money without doing anything good for the people or their staff. NESTLE IS A BUNCH OF THUGS LOOTING PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD.read all


by James Bon 05 Apr-reply-Helpful? -Flag

[+] 3 more opinions


ked for them over 20 years and then booted out
+5

Worked for them over 20 years and then booted out the door without so much as a thank you. While there,I saw and heard things that would make good fooder ...read all


by User-234culon 15 Mar-reply-Helpful? -Flag

CASTELLANO: No son éticos. Pregunté si tenían café
+2

CASTELLANO: No son éticos. Pregunté si tenían café de comercio justo para la Nespresso, en la tienda de Barcelona no sabían que demonios les preguntaba. En la web dicen que ...read all


by User-871ik5on 05 Mar-reply-Helpful? -Flag

there quality is not what you think you are
+3

their quality is not what you think you are buying..... many products sold have been altered in there formulations to make there product more profitable.. You are supposedly paying for ...read all

All LINKS to full articles can be accessed from here :

http://amplicate.com/hate/nestle

 

I think that's a reasonable expectation from collective natural resources such as rivers, large lakes and oceans. However, I don't think anyone has the right to trespass on to another person's property and take liberties with their wells, streams and/or ponds. This might explain why there's nothing silly about the omission of water "rights" in the ICCPR.

 

one word - Nestlé ...but he has a point - Egypt, KSA, Bangladesh, Haiti , all African countries,etc. HAVE TO PAY high prize for their crazy demography

 

Of course unwaranted trespass on private property is not generally condoned - however , while I'll expect a passer by to request permission before quenching his thirst , I wont make an issue out of it, on the contary I'd feel just as pleased/satified as when I watch our garden birds quenching their thirst in the bird baths + other trays of fresh water I keep for them.

 

Aye, Marlowe, only a matter of time before our air quality is so badly damaged that cans of oxygen will be the norm. You can already buy them. Or maybe those face masks, that I have only ever seen Japanese people wear. Ever seen them? It is like something from a horror film!

Also, you will get corps arguing that air is sort of like a food item.

 

Now would'nt you think a way can be found by the technologically advanced nations to find a solution to deficiencies (spelling ?) in those countries water supply problems . ?

....

 

Of course, it's generally illegal.

I do the same thing, but it is important to recognize that you and I willingly do so on our own accord.

My point is that there needs to be a balance between the rights people can expect from collective and private resources and property. I presume that reasonable people would agree.