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Fact check: Nestle. Ceo literaly said water should't be a human right it must be controlled by corporations. They took water in remote villages and then sold the water back to them.
1. Summary of the results
The original statement contains significant mischaracterizations of Peter Brabeck-Letmathe's position on water rights. The CEO never literally said "water shouldn't be a human right" [1]. Instead, in a 2005 documentary, he characterized the view of water as a public right as "extreme" and suggested water should have a market value [1]. Brabeck-Letmathe and Nestlé have consistently maintained that water needed for basic survival and daily consumption IS a human right that should be available to everyone, even if they cannot afford to pay [2] [2].
2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints
The CEO's statements were specifically about responsible water management, not opposing water rights [3]. His position makes a crucial distinction between:
- Basic water needs (drinking, washing) which should be a human right [2]
- Luxury water usage (swimming pools, golf courses) which should have market value to prevent waste [2]
However, there appears to be a disconnect between Nestlé's stated principles and their actions. The company has been criticized for extracting water from natural sources at very low costs, sometimes during drought conditions [4], which seems to contradict their public stance on water rights.
3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement
The original statement presents several misleading elements:
- It incorrectly attributes a direct quote to Brabeck-Letmathe that he never made [1]
- It oversimplifies a nuanced position about water management into a black-and-white statement [3]
- The statement benefits those who oppose corporate involvement in water management, while ignoring the complexity of the issue
The controversy appears to stem from the tension between Nestlé's public statements about water rights and their business practices. While they officially support access to clean water for basic needs as a human right [3], their water extraction practices have faced criticism [4]. This suggests that the real issue might not be about what was said, but rather about the alignment between corporate statements and actions.