[Northkeep] A bit off topic, but a safety conscern

Miriam Cook zahavabathannah at yahoo.com
Fri May 16 08:52:05 PDT 2003


I've been doing some research on baby gear today and
ran across this at ConsumerReports.org and thought
about the hundreds of times a summer that I drink from
a hose. Given the amount of time most of us SCA'ers
spend outside I thought it would be prudent to pass it
along to the list--

Miri/Zahava

Get the lead out of the garden hose

If you're in the market for a new garden hose this
year, look for one labeled safe for drinking. That's a
sign it contains a relatively small amount of lead
that can leach from the plastic hose into the water.

Lead is used as a stabilizer in the polyvinyl chloride
plastic used to make some hoses. Lead is also toxic
and can cause anemia, brain damage, and other
irreversible harm.

The amount of lead in garden hoses varies widely,
according to recent tests by engineers at Consumer
Reports magazine. But hoses labeled safe for drinking
contain by far the least. As a result, the water
absorbs essentially no lead if it's left to sit in the
hose for a day. Otherwise, the amount of lead in that
standing water could rise to levels far above those
that health authorities consider dangerous.

But unless you have a garden hose labeled safe for
drinking, don't let anyone--especially children--drink
from it. They could be getting a big gulp of lead.


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