Acqua Contrex and Hépar, produced by the Nestlé food giant in the Vosges region, in France, are massively contaminated by microplastics. This is what revealed by Mediapart in a new investigation based on the results of the regional environmental unit of the Nancy Prosecutor’s Office, which has conducted several months of investigations.
It is not the first time that Nestlé ends up under accusation (also) for its waters: only last year, an investigation revealed that the multinational would sell for over 18 billion bottles of water with the Contrex, Hépar and Vittel brands, whose quality levels were equivalent to those of tap water.
All this, at a price up to a hundred times higher than that of commonly distributed water, accumulating fraud estimated at over 3 billion euros in a period of 15 years.
We talked about it here: Nestlé scandal: bottle water contaminated with bacteria, the company deceives consumers for more than 15 years
The study
According to the new analyzes, the waters of the Contrex and Hépar brands would be contaminated with levels “exorbitant“Of microplastics. A pollution that exceeds the usual concentrations in the water by several thousand times – the Hépar water contains 328,000 times more plastic than the Seine, and the Contrex water 1.3 million.
And, ironically, it is Nestlé himself who is the source of this pollution: according to the investigation, at least since 2016, the industry would have allowed that illegal discharges near his wells of Contrexéville (Vosges): residues of plastic, glass and even some asbestos slabs (Nestlé Waters is on trial in France for the storage of waste and the management of four abusive landfills of plastic bottles in Contrexéville, they-Sous-Montfort, Saint-Ouen-les-Parey and Crainvilliers, for a total volume of 473,700 cubic meters, the equivalent, the equivalent of 126 Olympic swimming pools).
Mediapart is based in particular on a report presented to the courts in January by investigators of the French office for biodiversity (ofb) and the Central Office for the fight against attacks on the environment and public health (OCLAESP).
Nestlé Waters was sued for the maintenance of four illegal landfills: more than 400,000 cubic meters of plastic waste, the equivalent of 126 Olympic swimming pools. These landfills are found in the immediate vicinity of the wells from which the water is bottled.
Rates up to 1.3 million times higher than those of the rivers
As part of the preliminary investigation, the French office for biodiversity measured the concentrations of microplastics in these waters, sold with the Contrex and Hépar brands. As a result, these are rates up to 1.3 million times higher than those found in lakes, rivers or rivers taken as reference by scientists.
In their relationship, investigators warn “harmful effects“Of this pollution”on human health“But currently there is no prohibition or a regulatory threshold for microplastics at European level and in the meantime Nestlé Waters contacted by Mediapart assures: “No pollution has been shown“And that all its waters”they can be drunk safely“.
The trial against Nestlé Waters will be held at the end of November.
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