MEXICO CITY - There is one rule most tourists hold sacred when visiting Mexico: Don't drink the water.
Those foolish enough to ignore that advice risk the dreaded "Montezuma's Revenge" and other maladies. At least, that's the conventional wisdom.
But Mexican water officials say the fabled warning no longer holds true. In fact, they are so confident about the quality of the water that they are urging Mexicans to drink it — straight from the tap.
The goal of their new campaign, to be launched within the next few months, is to reduce the country's reliance on store-bought water. Mexico is the world's second largest per capita consumer of bottled water after Italy — an expenditure officials say is both costly and unnecessary. The United States, where bottled water is often more a fad than a necessity, ranks 10th....
This doesn't sound like "news" to me. Notice the officials are urging MEXICANS to drink. I never doubted that Mexicans could drink their water - they are acclimatized to it (up to a point, anyway). The issue has been and should still be, AMERICANS shouldn't drink their water because we aren't used to their bugs.
While in Germany, I sampled their excellent tap water. No problems. Europeans need to get over expensive bottled-water habit too (it costs as much as Coke does there).
BTW, I agree with the anti-flouridation crowd here on political grounds; dental hygiene should not be imposed on the populace via the water supply. Note that the movie "Dr. Strangelove" mocked flouridation opponents as silly anti-Communist paranoids. Classic strawman.
RV I've never been to Cancun. It's about a 24 hour drive from Mexico City from what I've heard and very expensive. So, I guess I won't see you there. I haved heard that it is very beautiful. I hope you enjoy it.
Mexican Mike Have you ever been to Acapulco? It's only about 3 to 3 1/2 hours from Mexico City where I am. Let me know when you come down.
No I have not been to Acopulco. We can trade the time share for anywhere in the world but we do not want to take the chance that we will be disapointed. We LOVE Cancun Mexico our time share is at the Royal Islander. We will be going down there APril 29 through May 5th. As long as I drink the water at the resort I am fine, they have a double cuno reverse osmosis filtrating system there. So I will even drink from the tap without any worries.
Yes Wayne. We planted a church about 9 years ago. It has been slow going but we do praise the Lord for a group of believers that love Him and His people and desire to obey Him. What a blessing it is to serve Christ on the homefront or the foreign field.
Lance correct, I live about 1000 miles from Sydney but I do travel there at least monthly at the moment. In fact I just arrived home this afternoon and only this morning I enjoyed a nice drink of Sydney tap water where I was working at Macquarie Park (just along from your Uni) & it seemed fine to me! Maybe a dash of scotch & some ice will help?
I drink only tap water, I like the taste better than most bottled water which can range from a bland, distilled water type taste through to salty. As an added bonus tap water is cheap and the flouride is good for you; I am thankful that it is added to our water. Those wondering why dentists are doing well have apparently never eaten American food. I don't think I would try drinking the water in Mexico or other 3rd world country. Frequently the nearer to the tropics the greater the problem with tap water quality.
We see a warning ad on TV now and then in Canada about being sure to get vacinated before travelling to your part of the world or any tropical area. They talk about Hepatitus A and possibly C as being in the water or in ice cubes in restaurants, etc.
Oh yes RV. The big resort places depend on Americans and other foreigners so they can't afford to make them sick so that they don't come back. You pay for it though I'm sure right. Your experience is very normal. Have you ever been to Acapulco? It's only about 3 to 3 1/2 hours from Mexico City where I am. Let me know when you come down.
I would counsel to not drink the water in Mexico City. We either get our drinking water from a filter or buy big 5 gallon containers that have been purified by reverse osmosis. I have thought about starting a new diet and coming up with one of those infomercials and just selling these little vials of MTW to help you lose weight. (My vials would just contain Mexican Tap Water ) Anybody think I could make a living doing that? When I have lived in Mexico, due to the different bacterias adnd parasites, I have a normal weight of about 185-190. When I have been in the States on furlough, I usually get up to about 205.
An interesting note--growing up my parents had an underground spring which was the best water in the world. When I go to their house now and drink it I get Montezuma's revenge. Go figure. Maybe my system has just gotten used to the Mexican microbes and now I can't take the ones in the USA.
Final word--if you think you can't trust the US government, DO NOT TRUST THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. Don't drink the water. I brush my teeth with tap water but don't swallow.
Fluoridation of water needs to end, period. I grew up on well water and it wasn't fluoridated; yet I still have all my teeth. Besides, most water contains sufficient amounts of naturally occuring fluoride. Too much fluoride is extremely dangerous to the human body (Hydrofluoric acid is very dangerous and possibly some of this is formed from ingested fluoride salts?)Maybe that's why the dentists are doing so well---people's teeth are rotting away from too much fluoride.
What would these mass deaths look like if flouridation health concerns were real? Would everyone fall down in a lump at once or would people gradually suffer and pass away of diseases with ambiguous root causes?
Wow, there are still some strange ideas out there about flouride -- and Christianity. We just haven't seen the predicted mass deaths or illnesses after decades of experience with "poisonous," "embalming fluidic," "undemocratic" flouridated water, and Jesus was a great winemaker!
Sorry my Mexican friends, but I don't even drink tap water in Pennsylvania, New jersey, Delaware, Maryland, or new York. There's enough chlorine, flouride, and who knows what else in that water. I believe that flouride is a by product of embalming fluid. With the money Christians save on beer and wine, we can afford to drink either spring water or very highly filtered bottled water.
I fought against flouridation in the Greater Vancouver, British Columbia area back around the late 1970s. Contributed much time, carried a large sign that said "Flouridation is Undemocratic" around the bridges of Vancouver and caught the eye of thousands at rush hours.
Talked to different mayors in the area and municipal politicians. The anti-flouridation movement helped at that time to stop the flouridation of the greater Vancouver area by one vote when it was debated by the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It is still flouridation free there.
We also managed to have flouridation stopped in the small town in northwest British Columbia by campaigning and giving the info to a municipal councillor who was able to get a referendum held on it.
It can be stopped but it takes a lot of work getting support of elected officials and conducting a campaign to inform the public about its hazards. People are concerned when they learn about it's health risks.
America's water has it's own pollution, with fluoride being the worst poison ADDED to our water. According to the propaganda that says this garbage is good for us, we thus have FORCED medical treatment, rather forced medical experimentation by MASS POISONING! How many deaths and illnesses attributed to this act of terrorism? The terrorists are right here folks, and they ain't Muslims.
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