12/31/2006

The Honorable Attorney General Jerry Brown
1300 I St.
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Attorney General Jerry Brown:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended[1] that all bottled drinking water be labeled for magnesium content, to encourage consumers to consume more magnesium, which may save about 20 Million lives per annum globally, and about 100,000 lives per annum in California, by preventing strokes and heart diseases. The FDA has ignored the WHO's recommendation, because the FDA destroyed the American mineral water industry in 1933, and is loath to admit that great mistake.

Dr. Chang Lee, Scientist, at the Drinking Water Branch of the California Department of Health, has written regarding this WHO recommendation:

I understand your concerns. But, as you are aware, the federal Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) has a provision that preempts any state law or requirements, including those of California, with regard to the nutrition information on labels of packaged foods including bottled water. I believe FDA is the only agency that has the authority to appropriately evaluate your request for imposing such requirement (i.e., disclosure of magnesium content in the nutrition panels of bottled water labels) .

I request that you issue an Opinion of where Dr. Lee's duty lies in regard to NLEA; specifically:

1. Does NLEA in fact forbid the California Department of Health from requiring or recommending the labeling of bottled water with the magnesium content?
2. Does NLEA in fact require that any Mg-labeling be limited to only the milligrams per 8 oz serving (as Dr. Lee has maintained), or may the consumer be given the more useful information of milligrams per liter? (Considering that consumers drink 8 servings of beverage per day, the milligrams per liter is more informative than the milligrams per 8 oz. serving, which seems negligible.)
3. If you determine that requiring or recommending Mg-labeling would violate the NLEA, does Dr. Lee have a duty under international law to save large numbers of lives by disregarding the NLEA, on the grounds that "just following orders" is not a valid legal defense for causing vast numbers of deaths?

I request that you issue an Opinion on these questions, to serve and protect the people of the State of California.

Sincerely,

Paul Mason, Pres.
Healthy Water Association
www.MgWater.com

[1] http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/pubs/WHO_cardiofullreport.pdf