Yerevan critical of US ban on Jermuk mineral water

13.03.2007
Itar Tass

YEREVAN, March 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Yerevan regards the U.S. sanitary authorities’ decision to bar the Armenian mineral water Jermuk from U.S. market as “anti-Armenian designs” and “encroachment on the Armenian prestige”.

Claims by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that Jermuk allegedly contains high doses of arsenic dangerous for health “cause plenty of questions,” adviser to the Jermuk Group administration Edgar Kazarian said on Tuesday.

Strangely, the American agency drew the conclusion from a test of only one 0.5-liter bottle, he said. Judging by the bottle photograph, it was a counterfeit Jermuk, as “there is no mineral water with such a label on the Armenian market,” he said.

There may be a political aspect to the problem, as well, Kazarian said. “Mineral water, which is a consumer product, becomes an instrument for solving political problems,” he said.

“We have been regularly exporting Jermuk to the United States for seven years, and we could not have done that without permission from respective U.S. agencies,” he said.

Kazarian wondered why the dangerous concentration of arsenic was found just now.

As known, all mineral waters of Armenia contain arsenic. “Armenian water has a curative effect thanks to this biologically active microelement,” said deputy chief of the Armenian Health Ministry’s State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service Marietta Basilisian.

In her words, the content of arsenic in Jermuk does not exceed the national standards.


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