Archive for July, 2007

Tea, water and waste


Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers. Tea does not dehydrate you—that’s a very effective modern myth that serves the companies bottling water in plastic containers.

In New York the authorities there are currently trying to convince the city’s population to ditch plastic bottles of water in favour of tap water, arguing quite rightly that bottled water is not only expensive but bad for the environment in terms of the plastic waste which often goes unrecycled around the world.

However, some time ago the Jewish community voiced concern that New York tap water contains harmless tiny crustaceans called copepods which nevertheless means the city’s water is said by some to be non-kosher. Eating crustaceans – shrimp, crabs, or any other creature with an external shell – is against Jewish law, but the perspective on the tap water depends on whether the copepods are viewed as being foreign organisms, in which case they are not kosher, or as consubstantial (there’s a wonderful word!) with the water—like bacteria—in which case, there is no problem.

Read the full article.

Friday, July 13th, 2007