Garden Hose Reels – Water Hose Health Concerns
Health concerns over the use of garden water hoses for potable water have recently come to my attention. I was more than a little surprised to learn that these issues have been around for at least 25 years. In fact worries about chemical contamination of drinking water prompted the State of California’s Proposition 65 in 1986. Proposition 65 is intended to limit our exposure to harmful substances linked to cancer, birth defects or other reproductive abnormalities. It covers both synthetic and naturally occurring hazards. In order to market products in the State of California warning labels must be included on packaging for products, such as garden hoses, that contain any of 775 substances found to be hazardous to human health. In regards to garden hoses the main culprit is the lead stabilizer found in polyvinyl chloride which is a common material used in it’s manufacture.In a recent test by Consumer Reports in the US, some samples of hose were found to be over the the government’s “safe” exposure limit. Some were 100 times over.
What does this mean to us? In my opinion, it doesn’t make sense to ignore such warnings. Like most environmental concerns even if the doom sayers are wrong I would rather err on the side of safety and avoid practices that may one day lead to my premature demise. If these warnings turn out to be correct then I’ve protected myself, if they’re not then I’m no worse off. On the other hand if I ignore the health warnings and they turn out to be legitimate then I’m going to regret it in a big way.
It seems that in this day and age we are continually being bombarded with health warnings. These are the unpleasant side effects of our insatiable quest for products and processes that make our lives “better” and more effortless. While many innovations in science and technology are truly amazing I suspect we are often unaware of their environmental and health impacts.
It’s time all governments followed California’s many fine examples of enacting safer health and environmental rules and regulations.