National Institute of Virology warns HUL of legal action on false claims for water purifier  

July 6, 2011

Directs company to change TV commercial which says ‘Pureit’ can destroy one crore viruses in one litre of water and that this is confirmed by tests by NIV

Moneylife Digital Team

Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) has warned Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) of legal action if it does not change the television commercial of its 'Pureit' water purifier. The advertisement is said to make unsubstantiated claims that it can destroy one crore virus in one litre of water.

In a letter to HUL dated 2 June 2011, A C Mishra, the director of NIV, explained the details of the tests conducted by the institute and said, "Your (HUL's) advertisements are not based on facts. You are requested to refrain from twisting and misrepresenting the facts. Failing to take immediate corrective measures may force us to resort to legal action against your company."

Moneylife had on 6 June 2011 reported the details of this case that were revealed through a Right to Information (RTI) query by Mumbai-based activist A R Shenoy. Pureit has been making the unsubstantiated claims through advertisements stating that the test results were backed by NIV, which tested eight domestic water purifiers using 0.67x105 Hepatitis E virus particles per litre of water.
 
According to the reply from NIV to the RTI application, the test was conducted on a sample of water of 0.67x105 Hepatitis E virus particles per litre and not one crore virus, as claimed by HUL. (Read, "How safe is your water purifier? HUL makes exaggerated claims")

 The report does not mention the names of any of the other water purifiers that were tested, apart from Pureit, which it says, removes 99.9% of virus particles using 0.67x105 Hepatitis E virus particles per litre of water, which is less than one million virus particles. Therefore, HUL took the liberty to twist the facts for its own benefit.

Subsequently, Mr Shenoy again evoked the RTI to find out from NIV whether there was any communication or official letter to HUL between April and early June 2011. In reply, to Mr Shenoy's query, NIV sent him a copy of the letter sent by its director, Mr Mishra, to HUL on 2nd June.

Speaking to Moneylife, Mr Shenoy said, "The letter is in agreement with my findings that the company is twisting the test reports for their own advantage." HUL has not answered an e-mail from Moneylife yet.