Nestle Fraudulently cites Leonardo da Vinci to promote San Pellegrino

A fraudulent citation of Leonardo da Vinci has been committed by one of Europe’s largest corporations, Nestle/Perrier/San Pellegrino:

This interesting (but false) “fact” appears on about 265,000 web sites, including Wikipedia:

San Pellegrino mineral water has been produced for over 600 years.[2]  Leonardo da Vinci visited the town in 1509 to sample and examine the town’s “miraculous” water, later writing a treatise on the subject.[2]  

This citation #2 is: ^ ^{a b} “S.Pellegrino Acqua Minerale History”. San Pellegrino. Retrieved 2007-02-22.^{[dead link]}

I did a lot of online research, and it appears that there are 265,000 web sites linking Leonardo da Vinci to San Pellegrino, but apparently all of them only cite/link to the above reference which is no longer operative, and use of the Way Back machine to check the original link produces gibberish.  No such Leonardo treatise exists.  What this means is that owners Nestle/Perrier/San Pellegrino apparently utilized a slick, fraudulent gimmick to make a false citation of a non-existent treatise by Leonardo da Vinci, and once it got going on the Internet, it was such a good story, that it just propagated endlessly, even though the actual false citation/treatise has been deleted.  This is a real insult to Leonardo da Vinci and to Science, and I want to bring this fraud to the attention of media or science watchdog groups such as you. 

Ironically, San Pellegrino could have promoted its high magnesium content of 52 mg of magnesium per liter, since the WHO is recommending at least 25 mg of magnesium per liter to prevent heart attacks and strokes.  See page 80 at  http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563550_eng.pdf

It is very likely that Nestle doesn’t want to discuss San Pellegrino’s mineral content, because its ratio of Calcium/Magnesium is a whopping 3.4-to-1, and may cause calcification of soft tissues in the heart, brain, and arteries.

I think this “science fraud” should be unveiled, and I hope you can be the one to unveil the fraud, as I think you have the spirit of Ralph Nader in you.

Sincerely,

Paul Mason
Mg Librarian
www.MgWater.com
(408) 897-3023