We would like to acknowledge McGill s Dr. Joe Schwarcz for his recent column The Funny Business of Selling Water, in which he discusses the Molecule Café in New York City s Greenwich Village.
He muses that The only item the Café serves is water. You can toss in another two bucks for a dash of an infusion. The infusions include a cacophony of vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts and neurotransmitter precursors that are supposed to improve your appearance, immune system and mental function. The latter claim is highly questionable, seeing that customers keep coming back to spend an outrageous amount of money for something that is available from the tap for free.
He goes on to say that the Molecule Café is promoting the idea that tap water is loaded with toxic chemicals that may kill you. But this is clearly not true. The usual suspects accused of villainy include chlorine, fluoride, pesticides, trihalomethanes and solvents such as isophorone, used in printing inks. Yes, these chemicals may be present in water, and it is true that they can all cause problems upon significant exposure, but maximum levels allowed in water have been established through extensive scientific investigation.
Of course, the question is whether this really matters in light of all the chemicals to which we are exposed in our daily lives. So, dropping in to the Molecule café for a glass of ultra-pure water is not the answer to toxin exposure. This is analogous to the idea promoted by ACSH s Holiday Dinner Menu, in which we explore the harmless (to humans) rodent carcinogens found in everyday foods.
But of course, To the establishment s credit, there is no bottled water in sight, and while anyone concerned with the quality of tap water can easily avail themselves of a variety of filters, the water will not compare to that of the Molecule Café, boosted with an infusion of Fountain of Youth and blessed by a Tibetan monk.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom shows his cynical side (no surprise there), wondering, Why do I get the feeling that this ultra-pure water comes from a fire hydrant in Newark?
