Koala Springs Water Pulled From Shelves

FREMONT, Calif. - Benzene traces in Koala Springs' juice-flavored mineral water led the company to yank it from shelves nationwide yesterday, the second big recall of a bubbly beverage due to the cancer-causing contaminant.

But health officials said the problem may be one of marketing rather than safety, since drinks classified as bottled water are subject to more exacting purity standards.

Australia-based Koala Springs International said it pulled hundreds of thousands of bottles and cans of the popular beverages from U.S. stores and warehouses after Florida's Health Department found samples with 11 to 18 parts per billion of cancer-causing benzene.

Benzene is the contaminant that also caused problems recently for Perrier, the French mineral-water giant, which recalled 72 million bottles in the U.S. and Canada earlier this year.