Access to water should not be a public right, Nestlé CEO

Time to boycott Nestle and all its subsidiaries

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Nestlé is the world’s biggest bottler of water but the profits from this enterprise of selling water is not enough for the company, it would seem.

Peter Brabeck-LetmatheWhile its former CEO Peter Brabeck-Lemanthe claims – correctly – that water is the most important raw material in the world, he then goes on to say that privatization is the best way to ensure fair distribution. He claims that the idea that water is a human right comes from “extremist” NGOs and that water is a foodstuff like any other, and should have a market value. As far as he is concerned the access to water should not be a public right.

Watch his statements in this video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTqvBhFVdvE

In other words he thinks that his company should be able to make lots of money from selling water, whether in bottles or otherwise, to people.

For a water bottler, and, if I am not mistaken, Nestle's water is known to be from municipal sources, the fact that people can get tap water – in the developed world – which is, in most cases healthy and clean, for almost nothing just is something he cannot hack. Especially considering the drink tap campaign that is beginning to heavily impact on the bottled water industry who, despite that, still manage to sell gallons of the stuff to people who have often no idea that they may actually be drinking tap water in plastic bottles. Something that they could get for almost free if they would use a refillable water bottle.

In many countries of the western world water utilities are, in fact, already in the hands of private enterprise, even in the UK, where once upon a time, that was before Thatcher, all those utilities, including also gas and electricity, were state-owned, and nowadays, if you can't pay the bills they very soon cut you off, regardless of the fact that water is necessary to sustain life, all life; not just human life.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe was the CEO of Nestle from 2005 to 2008 when he stepped down from this position. He is now the CEO of Formula I racing.

Brabeck-Letmathe (credited as Peter Brabeck) appeared in the 2005 documentary “We Feed The World” in an interview at the end of the film. He said that the idea of water as a basic human right was "extreme" and that he believed water should have value like any foodstuff, as has been stated already above. He also affirmed that Nestlé was part of the solution to world poverty by employing so many people,

During his tenure as CEO he garnered a "Black Planet Award" in 2007, along with Liliane Bettencourt, from the Foundation for Ethics and Economics in Berlin. It is bestowed on individuals dedicated to the destruction of the planet, whereas Brabeck and Bettencourt through Nestle were accused of proliferating contaminated baby food, monopolising water resources, and tolerating child labor.

Corporation such as Nestle, Monsanto, and others who want to put a price on every life essential must be stopped in their tracks by the people and the people can do it by voting with their wallets. Others in the same and similar league are Coca Cola, Pepsi, and especially Kraft.

Let's hit it where it really hurts them, in their reputation and their bottom line and boycott the products of those corporations, and that includes their subsidiaries such as, in the case of Nestle, also the supposedly green Body Shop.

© 2013