Claim that packaged drinking water 'Dew' killed 180 people in Tanzania is a Hoax - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 20, 2023
A message circulating on social media alleges that a brand of bottled water called ‘Dew,’ imported from Tanzania, caused the deaths of 180 people due to the presence of a poisonous chemical. This article aims to fact-check this claim
Claim: Bottled water brand ‘Dew’ is lethal and has caused 180 deaths in Tanzania.
Fact: This claim has been debunked previously. The ‘Dew’ brand of bottled water did not cause 180 deaths in Tanzania, and this is a long-standing hoax. Hence, the claim made in the post in False.
To confirm the authenticity of this claim, a keyword search was conducted on the internet to find information about the ‘Dew’ brand of bottled water. No significant reports were found regarding the introduction of such a product in India or its alleged ill effects.
Further investigation led to a news report published on the GhanaWeb news website in 2011. The report stated that the Nigerian Food and Drugs Board (FDB) dismissed the rumours of the ‘Dew’ water causing 180 deaths in Tanzania as false. The FDB conducted a thorough investigation and communicated with the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Tanzanian Bureau of Standards to reach this conclusion.
Further, the NAFDAC responded by stating that the ‘Dew’ water had been registered in Nigeria since 2005 and that there were no incidents of hospitalizations connected to the consumption of this water.
Furthermore, the renowned fact-checking organisations including, ‘Snopes,’ has debunked (Hoax-Slayer, Africacheck) this claim. According to Snopes, this message is of unknown origin and was identified as a hoax.
In conclusion, there is no truth to the claim that consuming ‘Dew’ brand water results in health hazards. This is a viral hoax that has been debunked several times before.