Using Lead free hoses

Has anyone read the labels on their newly purchased water hose?

Mine stated to wash my hands after each use as it contains a cancer causing substance.
And don't drink from it!

Do you think it's safe to use on your veggies?

Did your hose come with a warranty? Perhaps you can return it and get something that is eco-safe.

I did not save the receipt for the regular hose. I thought that it may not be so bad if all the hoses had this label. But in the back of my mind, I always had this little nagging doubt, wondering if my veggies are getting a dose of lead at each watering.

When I went to the garden section of Wal-Mart, Home Depot, K-Mart, and Lowes, I was surprised that all the garden hoses had this label. Even some of the rubberized spray nozzels had it too!

The ones used for trailer homes, labeled safe for drinking, did not have this warning. I got one, but it did not last long in the hot sun, and frankly am too lazy to coil it up and cover it after each watering. It is also not that cheap.

Just wondering what other SFGers do about this.

Under California law, anything that has even a measurable trace of lead has to be labeled. The lead is used as a stabilizer in the PVC -- the outer coating, and not the inner core, most of the time.

To make life easier, all the manufacturers put the California labels on their products, regardless of where they're being sold.

Do some googling, steering away from .com suffixes (enter -.com at the end of your search string) which will return only academic and government websites; arguably a little more reliable for health issues than the .coms, which are frequently profit-driven.

It's never a good idea to drink from your garden hose, especially if it's been lying in the sun, because of elevated bacteria levels that thrive in the warm water.

At the end of the day (or the paragraph)... it's up to each of individually to ascertain our own risks...and our tolerance for those risks.

Thank you Lafee, for the helpful info.

I'll check out some sites and make a decision on whether to replace my hoses or not.