NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2000 (Knight Ridder/Tribune) -- The number of reports of alleged bottled-water tampering mushroomed to 22 Saturday, leaving investigators with the task of sorting out the bona fide cases from hysteria and hoaxes.
"There are a few cases that are suspicious," Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said Saturday, suggesting that at least three of the people claiming to have drunk contaminated water were lying. However, police said no one has been arrested for filing a false report.
Meanwhile, Mayor Rudy Giuliani Saturday defended the city's Health Department for taking a wait-and-see attitude in reporting the initial possible tampering cases.
But even as he cautioned against panic, the mayor noted that the Health Department would change how it handles contamination cases.
"They will err on the side of overnotification," he said.
The first reported incident took place Aug. 3 when a diner at a Benihana restaurant in midtown became ill after drinking water a waiter poured from a bottle of Perrier.
On Aug. 27, a 35-year-old man experienced a burning sensation after buying a bottle of Aquafina from a Hell's Kitchen deli. The following week, on Sept. 6, an 18-month-old boy also suffered burns to his mouth after swigging water from a bottle of Poland Spring that his mom bought at a Washington Heights store.
Giuliani announced the news of the three cases the first involving traces of lye and the others an ammonia-based solvent at a Gracie Mansion press conference Wednesday evening.
Saturday, he discounted the first incident, suggesting that it was likely the restaurant's glass, not the Perrier bottle, that was contaminated. As for the others, he said, it takes time to develop connections between reported cases.
"We don't want to unnecessarily alarm the public," said the mayor, who added that that once he learned of the three cases last week, he immediately asked his police commissioner to determine if there was a link.
Health Department Commissioner Neal Cohen said his agency receives roughly 700 complaints a year of contaminated food and beverages.
Since news of the initial three cases broke Wednesday, at least 19 other cases have been reported, with some involving people who recalled having a burning sensation in their mouths when drinking bottled water weeks ago.
Among the new cases, Elena Nussbaum,35, of Manhattan reported to police on Friday that she purchased six bottles of Poland Spring water on Sept. 11 from a Food Emporium at 2008 Broadway.
After her year-old child drank three of the bottles, she noticed on Thursday that the water had a "bitter and fizzy" taste. Authorities are testing one of the bottles.
Meanwhile the child, who had suffered an adverse reaction, was examined at Lenox Hill Hospital, but showed no sign of trauma from drinking the water, police said.
Authorities said the child most likely had a reaction to a vaccination he received recently.
In another case, Joann Lewis, 22, of Queens, complained to police of a burning sensation in her mouth after drinking from a bottle of Poland Spring water that she had taken Friday from her family's Far Rockaway, Queens, restaurant. Police said Lewis, who drank the water while at her office job at a Queens nursing home, drove to Peninsula General Hospital and was treated for blisters in her mouth.
"She felt that her mouth was on fire," said her mother-in-law, Etta Bisnauth, a co-owner of Brother's West Indian and American Restaurant.
© Copyright 2000, New York Daily News.
