It is not a good idea to take a sip from your garden hose especially on a blistering hot day. A new study shows drinking from your garden hose, which contains water leached with a cocktail of heavy metals, can lead to major health problems.
Take a look at the chemicals found in garden hose water and the health issues it could cause:
–Polyvinyl chloride, a toxic plastic that often contains endocrine-disrupting stabilizers known as organotins, Is likely one of many chemicals found in your hose. Polyvinyl chloride can interfere with hormonal and reproductive development. In fact, a third of the PVC hoses contained these chemicals and with prolonged exposure, can lead to kidney and liver damage.
–Phthalates, a class of chemicals added to PVC to keep it flexible have also been found leached into the water inside the hose, have been linked to hormonal imbalances, lowered IQ, and other behavioral problems in children. After leaving a hose sitting outside in the sun for two days filled with water, they found both phthalates and bisphenol A or BPA, another hormone-disrupting chemical used to produce PVC, in the water at levels higher than the recommended drinking water limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. PVC chemical additives when consumed have been linked to birth defects, liver toxicity, and cancer.
Of the 90 water hoses used in the study, all were contaminated with lead and phthalates that exceeded levels set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Thirty-three percent of those hoses contained lead levels higher than the guidelines set in the federal Safe Drinking Water Standard.
-Another chemical being added to city water in many parts of the country is fluoride. Fluoride is a toxic industrial waste product, which is also contaminated with lead, arsenic, radionucleotides, aluminum and other industrial contaminants.
Fluoride is a neuro-developmental toxin, after a review of brain studies involving the use of fluoride has concluded that one of the adverse effects of fluoride exposure on children is damage to their neurological development. According to the Harvard researchers, children who lived in high-fluoride areas had “significantly lower IQ than those in low fluoride areas,”
-Also be aware it is not just the plastic that might be contaminated. Metal fixtures on hoses aren’t subject to the same limits on heavy metals that home faucets are, so even if the plastic itself is safe, the connectors and clasps could be adding lead to your water.
Wow! Where can I get the list of 90 hoses that were used in the study? Thanks for the informative article.
Garden hoses are not for drinking anyway! There are FOOD GRADE hoses!